THE 


Cruise  of  the  Aibatross 


OR 


When  Was  Wednesday  the  Tenth? 


^  .Storo  of  t|)c  Soiitfj  Pacific 


BY 

GRANT   ALLEN 

AUTHOR  OF  '«THE  GRKAT  TAKOO,"  "MICHAEL'S 

CRAG,"    "THE    WOMA.V    WHO    DID," 

"  COMMON-SKNSE    SCIENCE," 

ETC. 


CUustratcti  bg  JSrtUgman 


BOSTON 
LOTHROP   PUBLISHLNG    COMPANY 


n  t 


C'f 


Copyright,  iSgS, 

HV 

LoTHROP  Publishing  Company. 


Colonial  i^rcss: 

Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  C.  H.  Simonds  &  Co. 
Boston,  U.  S.  A. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER 

I.  We  Sight  a  Boat 

II.  The  Boat's  Crew 

III.  The  Mystery  Solved  . 

IV,  Martin  Luther's  Story 
V.  A  Break-down 

VI.  On  the  Island     . 

VII.  Errors  Excepted 

VIII.  Hot  Work    . 


PACE 

7 

23 

36 

50 

65 

79 
92 

104 


THE 

CRUISE  OF  THE  ALBATROSS 


THE  CRUISE   OF  THE  ALBATROSS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

WE   SIGHT   A   BOAT. 

On  the  eighteenth  day  out  from  Sydney,  we 
were  cruising  under  the  lee  of  Erromanga,  —  of 
course  you  know  Erromanga,  an  isolated  island 
between  the  New  Hebrides  and  the  Loyalty 
group,  —  when,  suddenly,  our  dusky  Polynesian 
boy,  Nassaline,  who  was  at  the  masthead  on 
the  lookout,  gave  a  surprised  cry  of  "  Boat 
ahoy!"  and  pointed  with  his  skinny  black 
finger  to  a  dark  dot,  away  southward  on  the 
horizon,  in  the  direction  of  Fiji. 

I  strained  my  eyes  and  saw  —  well,  a  barrel 
or  something.  For  myself,  I  should  never  have 
made  out  it  was  a  boat  at  all,  being  somewhat 


I 
8  THE   CRUISE   OF  THE   ALBATROSS. 

slow  of  vision  at  great  distances;  but,  bless 
your  heart!  these  Kanaka  lads  have  eyes  like 
hawks  for  pouncing  down  upon  a  canoe  or  a 
sail,  no  bigger  than  a  speck  afar  off;  so  when 
Nassaline  called  out,  confidently,  "Boat  ahoy!" 
in  his  broken  English,  I  took  out  my  binocular, 
and  focussed  it  full  on  the  spot  towards  which 
the  skinny  black  finger  pointed.  Probably, 
thought  I  to  myself,  a  party  of  natives,  painted 
red,  on  the  war-trail  against  their  enemies  in 
some  neighboring  island;  or,  perhaps,  a  "labor 
vessel,"  doing  a  veiled  slave-trade  in  "inden- 
tured apprentices"  for  New  Caledonia  or  the 
Queensland   planters. 

To  my  great  surprise,  however,  I  found  out, 
when  I  got  my  glasses  fixed  full  upon  it,  it  was 
neither  of  these,  but  an  open  English  rowboat, 
apparently,  making  signs  of  distress,  and  alone 
in  the  midst  of  the  wide  Pacific. 

Now,  mind  you,  one  doesn't  expect  to  find 
open  English  rowboats  many  miles  from  land, 
drifting  about,  casually,  in  those  far-eastern 
waters.  There's  very  little  European  shipping 
there  of  any  sort,  I   can  tell  you;  a  man  may 


IV£  SIGHT  A    no  AT.  9 

sometimes  sail  for  days  together,  across  that 
trackless  sea,  without  so  much  as  speaking  a 
single  vessel ;  and  the  few  he  does  come  across 
are  mostly  engaged  in  what  they  euphoniously 
call  "the  labor-trade,"  —  in  plain  PZnglish,  kid- 
napping blacks  or  browns,  who  are  induced  to 
sign  indentures  for  so  many  years'  service  (gen- 
erally "three  yams,"  that  is  to  say,  for  three 
yam  crops),  and  are  then  carried  off  by  foVce  or 
fraud  to  some  other  island,  to  be  used  as  laborers 
in  the  cane  fields  or  cocoanut  groves.  So  I 
rubbed  my  eyes  when  I  saw  an  open  boat,  of 
European  build,  tossing  about  on  the  open,  and 
sang  out  to  the  man  at  the  wheel : 

"  Hard  a  starboard,  Tom !  Put  her  head 
about  for  the  dark  spot  to  the  sou'-by-south- 
east   there ! " 

''Starboard  it  is!"  Tom  Blake  answered, 
cheerily,  setting  the  rudder  about;  and  we 
headed  straight  for  that  mysterious  little  craft 
away  off  on  the  horizon. 

But  there !  I  see  I've  got  ahead  of  my  story, 
to  start  with,  as  the  way  is  always  with  us  salt- 
water sailors.     We  seafaring  men  can  never  spin 


lO  THE    CRUISE   OE   7'J/E   ALBATROSS, 

a  yarn,  turned  straight  off  the  reel  all  right 
from  the  beginning,  like  some  of  those  book- 
making  chaps  can  do.  We  have  always  to  luff 
round  again,  and  start  anew  on  a  fresh  tack, 
half  a  dozen  times  over,  before  we  can  get  well 
under  weigh  for  the  port  we're  aiming  at.  So  I 
shall  have  to  go  back  myself  to  Sydney  once 
more,  to  explain  who  we  were,  and  how  we 
happened  to  be  cruising  about  on  the  loose,  that 
morning,  off  Erromanga. 

My  name,  if  I  may  venture  to  introduce  my- 
self formally,  is  Julian  Braithwaite.  I  am  the 
owner  and  commander  of  the  steam-yacht  Alba- 
tross, thirty-nine  tons  burden,  as  neat  a  little 
craft  as  any  on  the  Pacific,  though  it's  me  that 
says  it  as  oughtn't  to  say  it;  and  I've  spent 
the  last  five  years  of  my  life  in  cruising  in  and 
out  among  those  beautiful  archipelagos  in  search 
of  health,  which  nature  denies  me  in  more  north- 
ern latitudes.  The  oddest  part  of  it  is,  though 
I'm  what  the  doctors  call  consumptive,  in  Eng- 
land,—  only  fit  to  lie  on  a  sofa  and  read  good 
books,  —  the  moment  I  get  clear  away  into  the 
Tropics   I'm  £^  strong  man   again,  prepared   to 


PF£  SIGHT  A   BOAT.  II 

fight  any  fellow  of  my  own  age  and  weight, 
and  as  fit  for  seamanship  as  the  best  Jack  Tar 
in  my  whole  equipment.  The  Albatross  num- 
bers eighteen  in  crew,  all  told ;  and  as  I  am  not 
a  rich  enough  or  selfish  enough  man  to  keep 
up  a  vessel  all  for  my  own  amusement,  my 
brother  Jim  and  I  combine  business  and  pleas- 
ure by  doing  a  mixed  trade  in  copra  or  dried 
cocoanut  with  the  natives,  from  time  to  time, 
or  by  running  across  between  Sydney  and  San 
Francisco  with  a  light  cargo  of  goods  for  the 
Australian  market. 

Our  habit  was,  therefore,  to  cruise  in  and  out 
among  the  islands,  with  no  very  definite  aim 
except  that  of  picking  up  a  stray  trade  when- 
ever we  could  make  one,  and  keeping  as  much 
within  sight  of  land,  for  the  sake  of  company,  as 
circumstances  permitted  us.  And  that  is  just 
why,  though  bound  for  Fiji,  we  had  gone  so  far 
out  of  our  way,  that  particular  voyage,  as  to  be 
under  the  lee  of  Erromanga. 

As  for  our  black  Polynesian  boy,  Nassaline, 
to  tell  you  the  truth,  I  am  proud  of  that  lad,  for 
he's  a  trophy  of  war;  we  got  him,  at  the  point 


12  THE   CRUISE   OF   THE  ALBATROSS. 

of  the  sword,  off  a  slaver.  She  was  a  fast 
French  sloop,  "  recruiting "  for  New  Caledonia, 
as  they  call  it,  on  one  of  the  New  Hebrides, 
when  the  Albatross  happened  to  come  to  anchor, 
by  good  luck  or  good  management,  in  the  same 
harbor.  From  the  moment  we  arrived  I  had 
my  eye  on  that  smart  French  sloop,  for  I  more 
than  half  suspected  the  means  she  was  employ- 
ing to  beat  up  recruits.  Early  next  morning,  as 
I  lay  in  my  bunk,  I  heard  a  fearful  row  going 
on  in  boats  not  far  from  our  moorings;  and 
when  I  rushed  up  on  deck,  half  dressed,  to  find 
out  what  the  noise  was  about,  blessed  if  I 
didn't  see  whole  gangs  oi  angry  natives  in  ca- 
noes,—  naked,  of  course,  as  the  day  they  were 
born,  or  only  dressed,  like  the  ancient  Britons, 
in  a  neat  coat  of  paint,  —  pursuing  the  French 
sloop's  jolly-boat,  which  was  being  rowed  at 
high  pressure  by  all  its  crew  towards  its  own 
vessel.  "  By  Jove  ! "  said  I,  "  what's  up  ?  "  So, 
looking  closer,  I  could  make  out  four  strapping 
young  black  boys,  lying  manacled  in  the  bottom, 
kicking  and  screaming  as  hard  as  their  legs  and 
throats  could  go,  while  the  Frenchmen    rowed 


pr£  siGur  A  no  AT.  13 

away  for  dear  life,  and  the  Kanakas  in  the 
canoes  paddled  wildly  after  them,  taking  cock- 
shots  at  them,  with  very  bad  aim,  from  t'me  to 
time  with  arrows  and  firearms.  Such  a  splutter 
and  noise  you  never  heard  in  all  your  life. 
Ducks  fighting  in  a  pond  were  a  mere  circum- 
stance to  it. 

"  Tom  Blake !  "  I  sang  out,  "  is  the  gig  afloat 
there  ? " 

"  Aye,  aye,  sir,"  says  Tom,  jumping  up.  "  She's 
ready  at  the  starn.     Shall  we  ofT  and  at  'em  ?  " 

"Right  you  are,  Tom!"  says  I;  "all  hands 
to  the  gig  here  !  " 

Well,  in  less  than  three  minutes,  I'd  got  that 
boat  under  weigh,  and  was  rowing  ahead  be- 
tween the  Frenchmen  and  their  sloop,  with  our 
Remingtons  ready,  and  everything  in  order  for 
a  good  stand-up  fight  of  it. 

When  the  Frenchmen  saw  we  meant  to  inter- 
cept them,  and  found  themselves  cut  ofT  between 
the  savages  on  one  side  and  an  English  crew 
well  armed  with  rifles  of  precision  on  the  other, 
they  thought  it  was  about  time  to  open  negotia- 
tions with  the  opposing  party.     So  the  skipper 


14  THE   CRUISE    OF   THE   ALHATROSS. 

stopped,  as  airy  as  a  gentleman  walking  down 
the  Boulevards,  and  called  out  to  me,  in  French, 
"  What  do  you  want,  ahoy  there  ?  " 

"  Ahoy  there,  yourself,"  says  I,  in  my  very 
best  Ollendorff.  "  We  want  to  know  what 
you're  doing  with  those  youngsters  ? " 

"  Oh !  it's  that,  is  it  ? "  says  the  Frenchman, 
as  cool  as  a  cucumber,  coming  nearer  a  bit,  and 
talking  as  though  we'd  merely  stopped  him  with 
polite  inquiries  about  the  time  of  day  or  the 
price  of  spring  chickens ;  while  the  savages, 
seeing  from  our  manner  we  were  friendly  to 
their  side,  left  off  firing  for  awhile,  for  fear  of 
hitting  us.  "  Why,  these  are  apprentices  of 
ours  —  indentured  apprentices.  We've  bought 
them  from  their  parents  by  honest  trade  —  paid 
for  'em  with  Sniders,  ammunition,  calico,  and 
tobacco ;  and  if  you  want  to  see  our  papers  and 
theirs,  monsieur,  here  they  are,  look  you,  all 
perfectly  en  reglc,^'  and  he  held  up  the  bundle 
for  us  to  inspect  in  full,  —  with  a  telescope,  I 
suppose,  —  at  a  hundred  yards'  distance. 

"  Row  nearer,  boys,"  I  said,  "  and  we'll  talk 
a  bit  with  this  polite  gentleman.     He  seems  to 


IVE  SIGHT  A    FOAT.  1 5 

have  views  of  his  own,  I  fancy,  about  the  proper 
method  of  engaging  servants." 

But  when  we  tried  to  row  up,  the  Frenchman 
stopped,  and  called  out,  at  the  top  of  his  voice, 
in  a  very  different  tone,  all  bustle  and  bluster, 
"  Look  out,  ahead,  there !  If  you  come  a  yard 
closer,  we  open  fire.  We  want  no  interference 
from  any  of  you  Methodistical  missionary  fel- 
lows." 

"We  ain't  missionaries,"  I  answered,  quietly, 
cocking  my  revolver,  in  the  friendliest  possible 
fashion,  right  in  front  of  him;  "we're  traders  and 
yachtsmen.  Show  'em  your  Remingtons,  boys, 
and  let  'em  see  we  mean  business!  That's 
right.  Ready!  present!  — and  fire  when  I  tell 
you!  Now,  then,  monsieur,  you  bought  these 
boys,  you  say.  So  far,  good.  Next,  then,  if  you 
please,  who  did  you  buy  them  from } " 

The  Frenchman  turned  pale,  when  he  saw 
we  were  well  armed  and  meant  inquiry ;  but  he 
tried  to  carry  off  still  with  a  little  face  and 
bluster.  "Why,  their  parents,  of  course,"  he 
answered,  with  a  signal  to  his  friends  in  the 
ship  to  cover  us  with  their  firearms. 


l6  THE   CRUISE   OF   THE   ALBATROSS. 

"  From  their  parents  ?  Oh,  yes !  Well,  how 
did  you  know  the  sellers  were  their  parents  ?  " 
I  asked,  still  pointing  my  revolver  towards  him. 
"  And  why  are  the  boys  so  unwilling  to  go  ? 
And  what  are  the  natives  making  such  a  noise 
over  this  little  transaction  in  indentured  labor 
for?  If  it's  all  as  you  say,  what's  this  fuss  and 
row  about  ?     Keep  your  rifles  steady,  lads." 

"  They  want  to  back  out  of  their  bargain, 
I  suppose,  now  they've  drunk  our  rum  and 
smoked  our  tobacco,"  the  Frenchman  said, 
evasively. 

"  No  true,  no  true,"  one  of  the  natives  shouted 
out  from  beyond,  in  his  broken  English.  "  Man 
a  oui-oui!'' — that's  what  they  call  the  French, 
you  know,  all  through  the  South  Pacific, — 
"man  a  oni-otn,  bad,  —  no  believe  man,  a  oui- 
oui,  —  him  make  us  drunk,  so  try  to  cheat  us." 

"  Now  you  look  here,  monsieur,"  I  said,  se- 
verely, turning  to  the  skipper,  "  I  know  what 
you've  been  doing.  I've  seen  this  little  game 
tried  on  before.  You  landed  here  last  night, 
with  your  peaceable  equipment  for  recruiting* 
labor,  —  we  know  what    that   means,  —  a  Win- 


IVE  SIGHT  A   BOAT,  \J 

Chester  sixteen-shooter  and  half  a  dozen   pairs 
of    English   handcuffs.     You  brought  on   shore 
your  '  trade  '  —  a  common  clay  pipe  or  two,  some 
cheap  red  cloth,  and  a  lot  of  bad  French  Gov- 
'ernment  tobacco;   and  you  treated   the   natives 
all    round    to    free    drinks    of   your   square   gin. 
When  they'd   reached  that  state  of  convenient 
conviviality    that    they   didn't    know    who    they 
were,  or  what  they  were  doing,  you  took  advan- 
tage of  their  guileless  condition.     You  picked 
out  the  likeliest  young  men  and  lads,  selected 
any  particularly  drunken  native  lying  about  loose, 
to  represent  their  fathers,  made  'em  put  their 
marks    to    a   formal    paper    of    indentures,    and 
handed    over   twenty   dollars,  a   bottle   of   rum, 
and  a  quid  of  tobacco,  as  a  consolation  for  the 
wounded    feelings  of  their   distressed    relations. 
You've  been  carrying  them  off  all  night  at  your 
devil's   game;    and   now,    in    the   morning,    the 
natives  are  beginning  to   wake   up  sober,  miss 
their  friends,  and  put  a  summary  stop  to  your 
little   proceedings.     Well,    sir,    I    give    you    one 
minute  to   make    up  your  mind ;    if  you   don't 
hand  us  over  these   four  lads   to  set  on  shore 


1 8  THE    CRUISE   OF   THE   ALBATROSS. 

again,  we'll  open  fire  upon  you;  and  as  we're 
stronger  than  you,  with  the  natives  at  our  back, 
we'll  make  a  prize  of  you,  and  tow  you  into  Fiji 
on  a  charge  of  slave-trading." 

Before  the  words  were  well  out  of  my  mouth, 
the  French  skipper  had  given  the  word  "  Fire  ! " 
and  the  bullets  came  whizzing  past,  and  riddling 
the  gunwale  of  the  gig  beside  us.  One  of  them 
grazed  my  arm  below  the  shoulder  and  drew 
blood.  Now  there's  nothing  to  put  a  man's 
temper  up  like  getting  shot  in  the  arm.  I  lost 
mine,  I  confess,  and  I  shouted  aloud,  "  Fire, 
boys,  and  row  on  at  them  !  "  Our  fellows  fired, 
and  the  very  same  moment  the  natives  closed 
in  and  went  at  them  with  their  canoes,  all  alive 
with  Sniders,  lances,  and  hatchets.  It  was  a 
lively  time,  I  can  tell  you,  for  the  next  five  min- 
utes, with  those  lithe,  long  black  fellows  swarm- 
ing over  them  like  ants  ;  and  poor  Tom  Blake 
got  a  bullet  from  a  French  rifle  in  his  thigh, 
that  lodges  there  still  in  very  comfortable  quar- 
ters. But  one  of  the  Frenchmen  fell  back  in 
the  jolly-boat,  shot  through  the  breast,  and  the 
skipper,   who   turned   out   to   be  a  fellow  with 


PVJt   SIGHT  A   BOAT.  I9 

one  sound  leg  and  a  substitute,  was  severely 
wounded.  So  we'd  soon  closed  in  upon  them, 
the  natives  and  ourselves,  and  overpowered  their 
crew,  which  was  only  ten,  all  told,  besides  the 
fellows  on  the  big  vessel  in  the  harbor. 

Well,  we  .00k  out  the  four  boys,  when  the 
mill  was  over,  and  transferred  them  to  our  gig ; 
and  then  we  escorted  the  Frenchmen,  ironed  in 
their  own  handcuffs,  to  the  deck  of  their  sloop, 
with  the  natives  on  either  side  in  their  canoes 
rowing  along  abreast  of  us  like  a  guard  of 
honor.  The  crew  of  the  sloop  didn't  attempt 
to  interfere  with  us  as  we  brought  their  com- 
rades handcuffed  aboard ;  if  they  had,  why,  then, 
with  the  help  of  the  savages,  we  should  have 
been  more  than  a  match  for  them.  So  we 
prowled  around  the  ship  on  a  voyage  of  dis- 
covery, and  found  ample  evidence,  in  her  get-up, 
of  her  character  as  an  honest  and  single-hearted 
recruiter  of  labor.  A  rack  in  the  cabin  held 
eight  Snider  rifles,  loaded  for  use,  above  which 
hung  -  eight  revolvers,  employed,  doubtless,  in 
self-defence  against  the  lawless  character  of  the 
Kanakas,  as  the  skipper  (with  his  hands  in  irons 


20  THE   CRUISE    OE   THE   A/JiATA'OSS. 

and  his  eyes  in  tears)  most  solemnly  assured  us. 
The  sloop  was  prepared  throughout,  with  loop- 
holes and  battening-hatches,  to  stand  a  siege, 
and  could  have  made  short  work  of  the  natives 
alone  had  they  tried  to  attack  her,  for  she 
carried  a  small  howitzer,  not  so  big  as  our  own ; 
but  she  never  suspected  interference  from  a 
European  vessel.  We  went  down  into  her  hold, 
and  there  we  found  about  forty  natives,  men, 
women,  and  children, — free  agents  all,  the 
skipper  had  declared,  —  packed  as  tight  as  her- 
rings in  a  barrel,  and  with  stench  intolerable  to 
the  European  nostril.  Such  a  sight  you  never 
saw  in  your  life.  There  they  lay  athwart  ship, 
side  by  side,  the  unhappy  black  cattle,  some 
handcuffed  and  manacled,  others  dead  drunk 
and  too  careless  to  complain,  while  the  women 
and  children  were  crying  and  screaming,  and 
the  men  were  shouting  as  loud  as  they  could 
shout  in  their  own  lingo. 

Fortunately,  we  had  a  sailor  aboard  the  Alba- 
tross who  had  been  a  beach-comber  (or  degraded 
white  man  who  lives  like  a  native)  for  three 
years  on  the   island  of  Ambrymon,  and  had  a 


WE   SIGHT  A    HO  AT.  21 

Kanaka  girl  for  a  sweetheart ;  so  he  could  talk 
their  palaver  almost  as  easy  as  you  can  English, 
and  he  acted  as  interpreter  for  us  with  the  poor 
people  in  the  hold.  We  knocked  their  hand- 
cuffs off,  and  explained  the  situation  to  them. 
About  a  dozen  of  the  wretchedest  and  most 
squalid-looking  of  the  lot  were  prepared,  even 
when  we  offered  them  freedom,  to  stdnd  by  their 
last  night's  bargain,  and  go  on  to  New  Cale- 
donia; but  the  remainder  were  only  too  delighted 
to  learn  that  they  might  go  ashore  again  ;  and  they 
gave  us  three  ringing  British  cheers  as  soon  as 
they  understood  we  had  really  liberated  them. 

As  for  the  four  boys  we'd  got  in  the  gig,  three 
of  them  elected  at  once  to  2:0  home  to  their  own 
people  on  the  island;  bu  he  fourth  was  our 
present  black  servant,  Nassaline.  He,  poor  boy, 
was  an  orphan ;  and  his  nearest  relations,  hav- 
ing held  a  consultation  the  day  before  whether 
they  should  bake  him  and  eat  him,  or  sell  him 
to  the  Frenchman,  had  decided  that,  after  all,  he 
would  be  worth  more,  if  paid  for  in  tobacco  and 
rum,  than  if  roasted  in  plantain  leaves.  So,  as 
soon  as  he  found  we  were  going  to  put  him  on 


22  THE    CRUIHE  OF   THE   AI.HATKOSS. 

shore  again,  the  poor  creature  was  afraid  after  all 
he  was  being  returned  for  the  oven ;  and  fling- 
ing himself  on  his  face  in  the  gig,  grovelling 
and  cringing,  he  took  hold  of  our  knees  and  be- 
sought us  most  piteously  (as  our  sailor  trans- 
lated his  words  for  us)  to  take  him  with  us.  Of 
course,  when  we  entered  into  the  spirit  of  the 
situation,  we  felt  it  was  impossible  to  send  the 
poor  fellow  back  to  be  made  "  long  pig  "  of ;  so, 
to  his  immense  delight,  we  took  him  along,  and 
a  more  faithful  servant  no  man  ever  had  than 
poor  Nassaline  proved  from  that  day  forth  to  me. 
I've  gone  out  of  my  way  so  far,  as  I  said 
before,  to  tell  you  this  little  episode  of  my  life 
in  the  South  Pacific,  partly  in  order  to  let  you 
know  who  Nassaline  was,  and  how  we  came  by 
him  ;  but  partly,  also,  to  give  you  a  side  glimpse 
of  the  sort  of  gentry,  both  European  and  native, 
one  may  chance  to  knock  up  against  in  those 
remote  regions.  It'll  help  you  to  understand 
the  rest  of  my  yarn.  And  now,  if  you  please, 
I'll  tack  back  again,  once  more,  into  my  proper 
course,  to  the  spot  where  I  broke  off  in  sight 
of  Erromanga. 


CHAPTER  II. 


THK    HOAT*S    CRKW. 


Presently,  as  wc  headed  towards  the  black 
object  on  the  horizon,  NassaHne  stretched  out 
that  skinny  finger  of  his  once  more  (no  amount 
of  feeding  ever  seemed  to  make  NassaHne  one 
ounce  fatter),  and  cried  out  in  his  shrill  little 
piping  voice,  "Two  man  on  the  boat!  him 
makey  signs  for  call   us ! " 

I'd  give  anything  to  have  eyes  as  sharp  as 
those  Polynesians.  I  looked  across  the  sea, 
and  the  loppy  waves  in  the  foreground,  and 
could  just  make  out  with  the  naked  eye  that 
the  rowboat  had  somethinij  that  looked  like  a 
red  handkerchief  tied  to  her  bare  mast,  and  a 
white  signal  flapping  in  the  wind  below  it;  but 
not  a  living  soul  could  I  distinguish  in  her  with- 
out my  binocular.     So  I  put  up  my  glasses  and 

looked  again.      Sure  enough,  there   they  were, 

23 


24  THE    CRUISE    OE   THE   ALBATROSS. 

two  miserable  objects,  clinging,  as  it  seemed, 
lialf  dead,  to  the  mast,  and  making  most  piteous 
sio-ns  with  their  hands  to  attract  our  attention. 
As  soon  as  they  saw  that  we  had  really  sighted 
them,  and  were  altering  our  course  to  pick  them 
up,  their  joy  and  delight  knew  no  bounds,  as  we 
judged.  They  flung  up  their  arms  ecstatically 
into  the  air,  and  then  sank  back,  exhausted,  as 
I  guessed,  on  to  the  thwarts,  where  they  had  long 
ceased  sitting  or  rowing. 

They  were  wearied  out,  I  imagined,  with  long 
buffeting  against  that  angry  and  immeasurable 
sea,  and  must  soon  have  succumbed  to  fatigue, 
if  we  hadn't  caught  sight  of  them. 

We  put  on  all  steam,  as  in  duty  bound,  and 
made  towards  them  hastily.  By  and  by,  my 
brother  Jim,  who  had  been  off  watch,  came  up 
from  below  and  joined  me  on  deck,  to  see 
what  was  iroincr  forward.  At  the  same  moment, 
Nassaline  cried  out  once  more,  "Him  no  two 
man!  Him  two  boy!  Two  English  boy!  Him 
hungry,  like  a  dying!"  And,  as  he  spoke,  he 
held  his  own  skinny  bare  arm  up  to  his  mouth, 
dramatically,  and   took  a  good  bite  at   it,  as  if 


THE   BOATS   CREW.  2$ 

to  indicate  in  dumb  show  that  the  crew  of  the 
boat  were  now  almost  ready  to  eat  one  another. 

Jim  looked  through  the  glasses,  and  handed 
them  over  to  me  in  turn.  "By  George,  Julian," 
he  said,  "Nassaline's  right!  It's  a  couple  of 
boys,  and,  to  judge  by  the  look  of  them,  they're 
not  far  off  starvinQ^!" 

I  seized  the  glasses  and  fixed  them  upon  the 
boat.  We  were  getting  nearer,  now,  and  could 
make  out  the  features  of  its  occupants  quite 
distinctly.  A  more  pitiable  sight  never  met  my 
eyes.  Her  whole  crew  consisted  of  two  white- 
faced  lads,  apparently  about  twelve  or  thirteen 
years  old,  dressed  in  loose,  blue  cotton  shirts 
and  European  trousers,  but  horribly  pinched 
with  hunger  and  thirst,  and  evidendy  so  weak 
as  to  be  almost  incapable  of  clinging  to  the 
bare  mast  whence  they  were  trying  to  signal  us. 

Now,  you  land-loving  folk  can  hardly  realize, 
I  dare  say,  what  such  an  incident  means  at  sea ; 
but  to  Jim  and  me,  who  had  sailed  the  lonely 
Pacific  together,  for  five  years  at  a  stretch,  that 
pathetic  sight  was  full  both  of  horror  and  un- 
speakable  mystery.      For  anybody,  even  grown 


26  THE    CRUISE    OF   THE   ALBATROSS. 

men   long   used  to  the  ocean,  to  be  navigating 
that  awful  expanse  of  water,  alone,  in  an  empty 
boat,  is  little  short  of  ghastly.     Just  think  what 
it  means!     A  stormy  sheet  that  stretches  from 
the  north  pole  to  the  south,  without  one  streak 
of  continuous  land  to  break  it ;  a  stormy  sheet 
on  which  the  winds  and  waves  may  buffet  you 
about,  in  almost  any  direction,  for  five  thousand 
miles,  with  only  the  stray  chance  of  some  remote 
oceanic  isle  to  drift  upon,  or  some  coral  reef  to 
swallow  you  up  with  its  gigantic  breakers.     But 
a  couple   of   boys!  —  mere  children,  almost!  — 
alone,   and   starving,    on    that    immense    desert 
of  almost  untravelled  water!     On  the  Atlantic 
itself  your  chance  of  being  picked  up  from  open 
boats    by    a    passing   vessel    is    slight    enough, 
heaven  knows!    but  on  the  Pacific,  where  ships 
are  few  and  routes  are  far  apart,  your  only  al- 
ternative to  starvation  or  foundering  is  to  find 
yourself  cast  on  the  tender  mercies  of  the  can- 
nibal Kanaka.     No  wonder  I  looked  at  Jim,  and 
Jim  looked  at  me,  and  each  of  us  saw  unaccus- 
tomed tears  standing,  half  ashamed,  in  the  eyes 
of  the  other. 


THE   BOAT'S   CREW,  2/ 

"Stop  her!"  I  c -led.  "Lower  the  gig,  Tom 
Blake!  Jim,  we  must  go  ourselves  and  fetch 
these  poor  fellows." 

At  the  sound  of  my  bell  the  engineer  pulled 
up  the  Albatross,  short  and  sharp,  with  admira- 
ble precision,  and  we  lowered  our  boat  to  go 
out  and  meet  them.  As  we  drew  nearer  and 
nearer  with  each  stroke  of  our  oars,  I  could 
see  still  more  plainly  to  what  a  terrible  pitch 
of  destitution  and  distress  these  poor  lads  had 
been  subjected  during  their  awful  journey. 
Their  cheeks  were  sunken,  and  their  eyes 
seemed  to  stand  back  far  in  the  hollow  sockets. 
Their  pallid  white  hands  hardly  clung  to  the 
mast  by  convulsive  efforts  with  hooked  fingers. 
It  was  clear  they  had  used  up  their  last  reserve 
of  strength  in  their  wild  efforts  to  attract  our 
passing  attention. 

I  thanked  heaven  it  was  Nassaline  who  kept 
watch  at  the  masthead  when  they  first  hove  in 
sight.  No  European  eye  could  ever  have  dis- 
covered the  meaning  of  that  faint  black  speck 
upon  the  horizon.  If  it  hadn't  been  for  the 
sharp   vision    of    our    keen    Polynesian    friend, 


28  THE   CRUISE    OF   THE   ALBATROSS. 

these  two  helpless  children  might  have  drifted 
on  in  their  frail  craft  forever,  till  they  wasted 
away  with  hunger  and  thirst  under  the  broiling 
eye  of  the  hot  Pacific  noontide. 

We  pulled  alongside,  and  lifted  them  into 
the  gig.  As  we  reached  them,  both  boys  fell 
back,  faint  with  fatigue  and  with  the  sudden 
joy  of  their  unexpected  deliverance.  "  Quick, 
quick,  Jim!  your  flask!"  I  cried,  for  we  had 
brought  out  a  little  weak  brandy  and  water  on 
purpose.  "  Pour  it  slowly  down  their  throats 
—  not  too  fast  at  first  —  just  a  drop  at  a  time, 
for  fear  of  choking  them." 

Jim  held  the  youngest  boy's  head  on  his  lap, 
and  opened  those  parched  lips  of  his,  that  looked 
as  dry  as  a  piece  of  battered  old  shoe-leather. 
The  tongue  lolled  out  between  the  open  teeth, 
like  a  thirsty  dog's  at  midsummer,  and  was  hard 
and  rough  as  a  rasp,  with  long,  weary  watching. 
We  judged  the  lad  at  sight  to  be  twelve  years 
old  or  thereabouts.  Jim  put  the  flask  to  his 
lips,  and  let  a  few  drops  trickle  slowly  down 
his  burnt  throat.  At  touch  of  the  soft  liquid 
the  boy's  lips  closed  over  the  mouth  of  the  flask 


THE   BOAT'S   CREW.  29 

with  a  wild  movement  of  delight,  and  he  sucked 
in,  eagerly,  as  you  may  see  a  child  in  arms  suck 
at  the  mouthpiece  of  its  empty  feeding-bottle. 
"That's  well,"  I  said.  "He's  all  right,  at  any 
rate.  As  long  as  he  has  strength  enough  to 
pull  at  the  flask  like  that,  we  shall  brincr  him 
round  in  the  end  somehow." 

We  took  away  the  flask  as  soon  as  we  thought 
he'd  had  as  much  as  was  good  for  him  at  the 
time,  and  let  his  head  fall  back  once  more  upon 
Jim's  kindly  shoulder.  Now  that  the  first  wild 
flush  of  delight  at  their  rescue  was  fairly  over, 
a  reaction  had  set  in ;  their  nerves  and  muscles 
gave  way  simultaneously,  and  the  poor  lad  fell 
back,  half  fainting,  half  sleeping,  just  where  Jim 
with  his  fatherly  solicitude  chose  to  lay  him. 

Tom  Blake  and  I  turned  to  the  elder  lad. 
His  was  a  harder  and  more  desperate  case. 
Perhaps  he  had  tried  more  eagerly  to  save  his 
helpless  brother;  perhaps  the  sense  of  respon- 
sibility for  another's  life  had  weighed  heavier 
upon  him  at  his  age  — for  he  looked  fourteen; 
but  at  any  rate  he  was  well-nigh  dead  with 
exposure  and  exhaustion.     The  first  few  drops 


30  THE    CRUISE    OF   THE   ALBATROSS. 

we  poured  clown  his  throat  he  was  clearly  quite 
unable  to  swallow.  They  gurgled  back,  insen- 
sibly. Tom  Blake  took  out  his  handkerchief, 
and,  tearing  off  a  strip,  soaked  it  in  brandy 
and  water  in  the  cup  end  of  the  fiask ;  then 
he  gently  moistened  the  inside  of  the  poor  lad's 
mouth  and  throat  with  it,  till  at  last  a  faint 
swallowing  motion  was  set  up  in  the  gullet. 
At  that,  we  poured  down  some  five  drops,  cau- 
tiously. To  our  delight  and  relief,  they  were 
slowly  gulped  down,  and  the  poor  white  mouth 
stood  agape,  like  a  young  bird's,  in  mute  appeal 
for  more  water  —  more  water. 

We  eave  him  as  much  as  we  dared,  in  his 
existino-  state,  and  then  turned  to  the  boat  for 
some  clue  to  the  mystery. 

She  was  an  English -built  rowboat,  smart  and 
taut,  fit  for  facing  rough  seas,  and  carrying  a 
short,  stout  mast  amidships.  On  her  sterh  we 
found  her  name,  in  somewhat  rudely  painted 
letters.  Messenger  of  Peace :  Makilolo  in  Tanaki, 
Clearly  she  had  been  designed  for  mission  ser- 
vice amon^  the  islands,  and  the  last  words  which 
followed  her  title  must  be  meant  to  designate 


THE  BOATS   CREW.  31 

her  port,  or  the  mission  station.     But  what  that 
place  was  I  hadn't  a  notion. 

"Where's  Tanaki,  Tom  Blake.?"  I  asked, 
turning  round,  for  Tom  had  been  navioatin*'- 
the  South  Seas  any  time  this  twenty  years, 
and  knew  almost  every  nook  and  corner  of  the 
wide  Pacific,  from  Yokohama  to  Valparaiso. 

Tom  shifted  his  quid  from  one  cheek  to  the 
other,  and  answered,  after  a  pause,  "  Dunno,  sir, 
I'm  sure.  Never  heerd  tell  of  Tanaki  in  all 
my  born  days;  an'  yet  I  sorter  fancied,  too,  I 
knowed  the  islands." 

"There  are  no  signs  of  blood  or  fiditino;  in 
the  boat,"  I  said,  examining  it  close.  "  They 
can't  have  escaped  from  a  massacre,  anyhow." 
For  I  remembered  at  once  to  what  perils  the 
missionaries  are  often  exposed  in  these  remote 
islands  —  how  good  Bishop  Patteson  had  been 
murdered  at  Santa  Cruz,  and  how  the  natives 
had  broken  the  heads  of  Mason  and  Wood  at 
Erromanga,  not  so  many  months  back,  in  cold 
blood,  out  of  pure  lust  of  slaughter. 

"  But  they  must  have  run   away    in    an    aw- 
ful hurry,"  Tom    Blake   added,  overhauling   the 


32  THE   CRUISE   OF    THE   ALBATROSS. 

locker  of  the  boat,  "for,  see,  she  ain't  found; 
there  ain't  no  signs  of  food,  or  anything  to  hold 
it,  nowheres,  sir;  and  this  'ere  little  can  must 
'a'  been  the  on'y  thing  they  had  with  'em  for 
water." 

He  was  quite  right.  The  boat  had  clearly  put 
to  sea  unprovisioned.  It  deepened  our  horror 
at  the  poor  lads'  plight,  to  think  of  this  further 
aecravation  of  their  incredible  sufferings.  For 
days  they  must  have  tossed,  in  hunger  and  thirst, 
on  the  great  deep.  But  we  could  only  wait  to 
have  the  mystery  cleared  up  when  the  lads  were 
well  enough  to  explain  to  us  what  had  happened. 
Meanwhile,  we  could  but  look  and  wonder  in 
silence ;  and,  indeed,  we  had  quite  enough  to  do, 
for  the  present,  in  endeavoring  to  restore  them 
to  a  state  of  consciousness. 

"Any  marks  on  their  clothes?"  my  brother 
Jim  suggested,  with  practical  good  sense,  look- 
ing up  from  his  charge  as  we  rowed  back 
towards  the  Albatross,  with  the  Messenger  of 
Peace  in  tow  behind  us.  "That  might  help  us 
to  guess  who  they  are,  and  where  they  hail 
from." 


Tllli  1WAT\S   CkFAV.  33 

I  looked  close  at  the  belts  of  the  lads'  blue 
shirts.  On  the  elders  I  read,  in  a  woman's 
handwriting,  "  Martin  Luther  Macglashin,  6, 
'87."  The  younger  boy's  bore,  in  the  same 
hand,  the  corresponding  inscription,  "  John  Knox 
Macglashin,  6,  '86."  It  somehow  deepened  the 
tragedy  of  the  situation  to  come  upon  those  sim- 
ple domestic  reminiscences  at  such  a  moment. 

"  Sons  of  a  Scotch  missionary,  apparently,"  I 
said,  as  I  read  them  out.  "  If  only  we  could 
find  where  their  father  was  at  work,  we  might 
manage  to  get  some  clue  to  this  mystery." 

"We  can  look  him  up,"  Jim  answered,  "when 
we  get  to  Fiji." 

We  rowed  back  in  silence  the  rest  of  the  way 
to  the  Albatross,  lifted  the  poor  boys  tenderly 
on  board,  and  laid  them  down  to  rest  on  our 
own  bunks  in  the  cabin.  Serang-Palo,  our 
Malay  cook,  made  haste  at  the  galleys  to  dress 
them  a  little  arrowroot  with  condensed  milk ; 
and  before  half  an  hour  the  younger  boy  was 
sitting  up  in  Jim's  arms,  with  his  eyes  and 
mouth  wide  open,  craving  eagerly  for  the  nice 
warm  mess  we  were  oblioed  to  dole  out  to  his 


34  THE   CR17ISE   OF   THE   ALBATR0S5. 

enfeebled  stomach  in  sparing  spoonfuls,  and 
with  a  trifle  of  color  already  returning  to  his 
pale  cheeks.  He  was  too  ill  to  speak  yet, —  his 
brother,  indeed,  lay  even  now  insensible  on  the 
bunk  in  the  corner, —  but  as  soon  as  he  had 
finished  the  small  pittance  of  arrowroot,  which 
alone  we  thought  it  prudent  to  let  him  swallow 
at  present,  he  mustered  up  just  strength  enough 
to  gasp  out  a  few  words  of  solemn  importance, 
in  a  very  hollow  voice.  We  bent  over  him  to 
listen.  They  were  broken  words  we  caught, 
half  rambling,  as  in  delirium,  but  we  heard 
them  distinctly,  — 

"  Steer  for  Makilolo  —  Island  of  Tanaki  — 
Wednesday  the  tenth  —  Natives  will  murder 
them  —  My  mother  —  my  father  —  Calvin  —  and 
Miriam." 

Then  it  was  evident  he  could  not  say  another 
word.  He  sank  back  on  the  pillow,  breathless 
and  exhausted.  The  color  faded  from  his  cheek 
once  more  as  he  fell  into  his  place.  I  poured 
another  spoonful  of  brandy  down  his  parched 
throat.  In  three  minutes  more  he  was  sleeping 
peacefully,  with  long,  even  breath,  like  one  who 


THE  BOATS   CKEIV.  35 

hadn't    slept   for    nights    before   on    the   tossing 
ocean. 

I  looked  at  Jim  and  bit  my  lips  hard.  "  This 
is,  indeed,  a  fix,"  I  cried,  utterly  nonplussed. 
"Where  on  earth,  I  should  like  to  know,  is 
this   island   of   Tanaki  ? " 

"  Don't  know,"  said  Jim.  "  But  wherever  it 
is,  we've  got  to  get  there." 


CHAPTER  III. 

TIIK    MYSTKKY    SOLVED. 

Wk  i)au.sed  for  awliilc,  and  looked  at  one 
an () tiler's   faces   blankly. 

"  Suppose,"  Jim  suggested  at  last,  "  we  get  ,out 
the  charts,  and  see  if  such  a  place  as  Tanaki  is 
marked  upon  them  anywhere." 

"  Right  you  are,"  says  I.  "  Overhaul  your 
maps,   and  when  found,   make   a  note  of." 

Well,  we  did  overhaul  them  for  an  hour  at  a 
stretch,  and  searched  them  thoroughly,  inch  by 
inch,  Jim  taking  one  sheet  of  the  Admiralty 
chart  for  the  South  Pacific,  and  I  the  other; 
but  never  a  name  could  we  find  remotely  re- 
semblinc:  the  sound  or  look  of  Tanaki.  Tom 
Blake,  too,  was  positive,  as  he  put  it  himself, 
that  "  there  weren't  no  such  name,  not  in  the 
whole  thunderin'  Pacific,  nowheres."  So,  after 
long  and  patient  search,  we  gave  up  the  quest, 


THE   MYSTERY  SOLVED.  37 

and  dotcrminccl  to  wait  for  furtlicr  particulars 
till  the  boys  had  recovered  enough  to  tell  us 
their  strange  story. 

Meanwhile,  it  was  clear  we  must  steer  some- 
where. We  couldn't  go  beating  wildly  up  ar.d 
down  the  Pacific,  on  the  hunt  for  a  possibly 
non-existent  Tanaki,  allowing  the  ^llbalross  to 
drift  at  her  own  sweet  will  wherever  she  liked, 
pending  the  boys'  restoration  to  speech  and 
healtli.  So  the  question  arose  what  direction 
we  should  steer  in.  Jim  solved  that  problem 
as  easy  as  if  it  had  come  out  of  the  first  book 
of  Euclid  (he  was  always  a  mathematician,  Jim 
was,  while,  for  my  part,  when  I  was  a  little  chap 
at  school,  the  asses'  bridge  at  an  early  stage 
effectually  blocked  my  further  progress.  I  could 
never  get  over  it,  even  with  the  persuasive  aid 
of  what  Doctor  Slasher  used  politely  to  call  his 
vis  a  tcrgo). 

"They're  too  weak  to  row  far,  these  lads," 
Jim  said,  in  his  didactic  way,  —  ought  to  have 
been  a  schoolmaster  or  a  public  demonstrator, 
Jim :  such  a  head  for  proxing  things  !  "  There- 
fore they  must  mostl)'  have  been  drifting  before 


3<S      •  'J'lIE    CKUISE   OF   THE   ALU  AT  ROSS. 

the  wind   ever  since  they  started.      Now,  wind 
for  the   last  fortnight's   been   steadily  nor'east," 
—  the  anti-trade  was  blow^ing.     "  Therefore,  they 
must  have   come  from   the   nor'east,    I   take   it; 
and  if  we  steer  clean  in   the  face  of  the  wind, 
we're  bound  sooner  or  later  to  arrive  at  Tanaki." 
"Jim,"    said     I,    admiring    him,    like,    ''you're 
really    a    wonderful    chap.      You    do    put    your 
finger   down    so    pat   on    things!     Steer   to   the 
nor'east    it    is,    of   course.     But    I    wonder   how 
far  off  Tanaki  lies,  and  what  chance  we've  o-ot 
of  reaching    there    by  Wednesday  the  tenth?" 
For,  though  we  didn't  even  know  yet  who  the 
people  were  w^ho  were  threatened  with  massacre, 
at  this  supposed  Tanaki,  we  couldn't  let  them 
have    their   throats    cut    in    cold   blood   without 
at  least  an  attempt  to  arrive   there  in  time  to 
,   prevent  it. 

Of  course  we  knew  with  our  one  brass  eun 
we  should  be  more  than  a  match  for  any  Mela- 
nesian  islanders  we  were  likely  to  meet  with, 
if  once  we  could  get  there ;  but  the  trouble 
was,  should  we  reach  in  time  to  forestall  the 
massacre  } 


THE   iMYSTERY  SOLVED.  39 

By    Wednesday    the    tenth    we    must    reacli 
Tanaki  —  wherever  that  might  be. 

Jim  took  out  a  piece  of  paper  and  totted  up 
a  few  figures  carelessly  on   the   back.     "  We've 
plenty  of  coal,"  he  said,  "  and  I  reckon  we  can 
make  nine  knots  an  hour,  if  it  comes  to  a  j^ush, 
even    against    this    head    wind.      To-day's    the 
sixth;  that  gives  us  four  clear  days  still  to  the 
good.     At  nine  knots,  we  can  do  a  run  of  two 
hundred  and  thirty-six  knots  a  day.     Four  two- 
hundred-and-thirty-sixes   is   nine    hundred   and 
forty-four,   isn't  it.?     Let  me  see;  four  sixes  is 
twenty-four,  put  down  four  and  carry  two ;  four 
three's  is  twelve,  and  two's  fourteen ;  four  two's 
-—yes,  that's  all  right:  nine  hundred  and  forty- 
four,  you  see,  ex-actly.     Well,  then,  look  here, 
Julian:    unless   Tanaki's   further  off  than    nine 
hundred    and  forty-four  nautical  miles,  — which 
isn't  likely,  — we  ought  to  get  there  by  twelve 
o'clock  on  Wednesday,  at  latest.     Nine  hundred 
and  forty-four  miles  is  an  awful  long  stretch  for 
two   boys    to   come  in   an   open   boat.      I   don't 
expect   these  boys  can   have   done  as  much   as 
that  — or  anything  like  it," 


40  THE   CRUISE    OF   THE   ALBATROSS. 

"  Wind  and  current  were  with  them,"  I  ob- 
jected, "  and  she  was  drifting  like  one  o'clock 
when  we  first  sighted  her.  I  shouldn't  be  sur- 
prised if  she  was  making  five  or  six  knots  an 
hour  before  half  a  gale,  all  through  that  hard 
blow.  And  the  poor  boys  look  as  if  they  might 
have  been  out  a  week  or  more.  Still,  it  isn't 
likely  they  would  have  come  nine  hundred 
knots,  as  you  say,  or  anything  like  it.  If  we 
put  on  all  steam,  we  ought  to  arrive  in  time  to 
save  their  father  and  mother.  Anyhow,  we'll 
try  it."  And  I  shouted  down  the  speaking- 
tube,  "Hi,  you  there,  engineer!  —  pile  on  the 
coal  hard  and  make  her  travel.  We  want  all 
the  speed  we  can  get  out  of  the  Albab^oss  for 
the  next  three  days." 

"  All  square,  sir,"  says  Jenkins ;  and  he  piled 
on,  accordingly. 

So  we  steamed  ahead,  as  hard  as  we  could 
go,  in  the  direction  where  we  expected  to  find 
Tanaki. 

Half  an  hour  later,  Nassaline,  who  had  been 
down  below,  with  the  Malay  cook  and  one  of 
the  men,  looking  after  the  patients,  came  up  on 


THE   MYSTERY  SOLVED.  41 

deck  once  more,  with  a  broad  grin  on  his  jet- 
black  face,  from  ear  to  ear,  and  exclaimed  in 
his  very  best  Kanaka-English,  "  Boy  come 
round  again.  Eat  plenty  arrowroot.  Eat  allee 
samee  like  as  if  starvee.  Call  very  hard  for  see 
Massa  Captain." 

"What  do  yoLi  think's  the  matter  with  them, 
Nassaline?"  I  asked,  as  I  walked  along  by  his 
side  towards  the  companion-ladder. 

Nassaline's  ideas  were  exclusively  confined 
to  a  certain  fixed  and  narrow  Polynesian  circle. 
"Tink  him  fader  go  sell  him  for  laborer  to  a 
man  oui-oui,  or  make  oven  hot  for  him,"  he 
answered,  grinning;  "so  him  run  away,  and 
come  put  himself  aboard  Massa  Captain  ship; 
so  eat  plenty — no  beat,  no  starvee." 

It  was  his  own  personal  history  put  in  brief, 
and  he  fitted  it  at  once  as  the  only  possible  ex- 
planation to  these  other  poor  fugitives. 

"  Nonsense ! "  I  said,  with  a  compassionate 
smile  at  his  innocence.  "White  people  don't 
sell  or  eat  their  children,  stupid !  It's  my 
belief,  Nassaline,  we'll  never  make  a  civilized 
Christian   creature    of   you,    in    a    tall    hat,    and 


42  THE    CRUISE    OE   THE   ALEATROSS. 

with  a  glass  in  your  eye.  You  ain't  cut  out  for 
it,  somehow.  How  many  times  have  I  explained 
to  you,  boy,  that  Christians  never  cook  and  eat 
their  enemies  ?  They  only  love  them,  and  blow 
them  up  with  Gatlinojs  or  Armstronos — a 
purely  fraternal  method  of  expressing  slight 
differences  of  international  opinion.  Now, 
come  along  down,  and  let's  see  these  lads. 
It's  some  of  your  heathen  relations,  I  expect, 
the  poor  fellows  are  flying  from." 

But  I  omitted  to  have  remarked  to  him  (as  I 
might  have  done)  that  I  hadn't  seen  such  a 
painful  sight  before,  since  I  saw  the  inhabitants 
of  a  French  village  in  Lorraine  —  old  men, 
young  girls,  and  mothers  with  babies  pressed 
against  their  breasts  —  flying,  pell-mell,  before 
the  sudden  onslaught  of  a  hundred  and  fifty 
Christian  Prussian  Uhlans.  These  little  pecu- 
liarities of  our  advanced  civilization  are  best 
not  mentioned  to  the  heathen   Polynesian. 

In  the  cabin  we  found  both  boys  now  fairly 
on  the  high  road  to  recovery,  though  still,  of 
course,  much  too  weak  to  talk ;  but  bursting 
over,  for  all  that,  with  eagerness  to  tell  us  their 


The  M ys  tery  sot.  ved.  43 

whole  eventful   history.     For   my   own    part,    I, 
too,  was   all  eagerness  to   hear  it;  but  anxiety 
for  their  safety  made  me  restrain  my  imj)atience. 
The   elder  boy,   now  leaning  on   his   elbow  and 
staring  wildly  before  him  with  horror,  —  a  mere 
skeleton  to  look  at,  with  his  sunken  cheeks  and 
great  hollow  eyes,  —  began  to  break  forth  upon 
me  with  his  long  tale  in  full;  but  I  soon  put  a 
stop  to  that,  you  may  be  pretty  sure,  with  most 
uncompromising   promptitude.     "  My    dear    Mr. 
Martin    Luther    Macglashin,"    I    said,    severely, 
giving  him  the  full  benefit  of  all  his  own  various 
high-sounding  names,  for  greater  impressiveness, 
"  if  you  don't  lean  back  this  moment  upon  your 
pillow,  quiet  your  rolling  eye  down  to  every-day 
proportions,  and  answer  only  in  the  shortest  pos- 
sible words  nothing  but  the  plain  questions  I  put 
to  you,  —  hang  me,  sir,  if  I  don't  turn  you  and 
John    Knox  adrift  again   upon  the   wild   waves, 
and  continue  on  my  course  for  Levuka  in  iMJi." 

"  Why,  how  did  you  come  to  know  our 
names } "  he  exclaimed,  astonished.  "  You 
must  be  as  sharp  as  a  lynx,  captain." 

"That's    not    an    answer    to    any   question    I 


44  "^HE   CRUISE    OF   TlfE   ALBATROSS. 

asked  you,"  I  replied,  with  as  much  sternness  as 
I  could  put  in  to  my  voice,  looking  at  the  poor 
fellow's  starved  white  face.  "  But  as  a  special 
favor  to  a  deserving  fellow  creature,  I  don't 
mind  telling  you.  I'm  as  sharp  as  a  lynx,  as 
you  say,  and  a  trifle  sharper;  for  no  lynx 
would  have  looked  for  your  names  on  the  flap 
of  your  shirts.  There,  that'll  do  now ;  don't 
try  to  talk;  but  just  answer  me  quietly.  Where 
do  you  come  from,  and  where  do  you  want 
us  to  go  to }  " 

Martin  lifted  up  his  face  and  answered,  with 
becoming  brevity,  "  Tanaki." 

"  That's  better ! "  I  said.  "  That's  the  sort 
of  way  a  fellow  ought  to  answer,  when  he's 
more  than  half  starved  with  a  week  at  sea.  But 
the  next  thing  is,  where's   Tanaki  ? " 

"  It's  one  of  the  group  that  used  to  be  called 
the  Duke  of  Cumberland's  Islands,"  the  boy 
answered,  faintly,  yet  overflowing  with  eager- 
ness. "  They  lie  just  beyond  the  Ellice  Archi- 
pelago, nearly  on  the  line  of  a  hundred  and 
eighty,  as  you  go  towards  the  Union  Group 
along  the  parallel  of  —  " 


THE  MYSTERY  SOLVED.  45 

"  Now,  my  dear  boy,"  I  said,  "  if  you  run  on 
like  that,  as  I  said  before,  I  shall  have  to  turn 
you  adrift  again  in  your  open  boat  at  the  mercy 
of  the  ocean.  Do  be  quiet,  won't  you,  and  let 
me  look  up  your  island  ? " 

''  We  can't  be  quiet,"  Master  John  Knox  put 
in,  eagerly,  "  when  we  know  they're  going  to 
murder  our  father  and  mother  and  Calvin  and 
Miriam,  on  Wednesday  morning." 

"Just  you  hold  your  tongue,  sir,"  I  said,  push- 
ing him  down  again  on  his  bunk,  "and  wait 
till  you're  spoken  to.  Now,  not  another  word, 
either  of  you,  till  I've  consulted  my  chart.  Jim, 
hand  down  the  Admiralty  sheets  again,  there's 
a  good  fellow,  will  you }  " 

Jim  handed  them  down,  and  we  commenced 
our  scrutiny  at  once. 

We  soon  found  the  Duke  of  Cumberland's 
Islands,  and,  as  good  luck  would  have  it,  found 
we  were  steering  as  straight  as  an  arrow  for 
them.  The  direction  of  the  wind  had  not 
misled  us.  But  still  no  such  place  as  Tanaki 
could  we  find  anywhere. 

"It   used   to    be   called    'The    Loner    Reef,'" 


46  THE   CRUISE   OE   THE   ALBATROSS. 

Martin  said,  looking  up ;  "  but  now  we  call  it 
by  the  native  name,  Tanaki." 

"  Oh,  the  Long  Reef !  "  I  said ;  "  why  didn't 
you  say  so  at  first  ?  I  know  tliat  well  enough 
by  sight  on  the  chart ;  but  I  never  heard  it 
called  Tanaki  before.  That  accounts,  of  course, 
for  the  milk  in  the  cocoanut.  Jim,  hand  along 
the  calipers  here,  and  let's  measure  out  the 
course.  Two  —  four  —  six  —  eight,"  I  went  on, 
looping  along  line  of  sailing  with  the  calipers. 
"  A  trifle  short  of  eight  hundred  miles.  Say 
seven  hundred  and  eighty.  And  we've  till 
Wednesday  morning.  Well,  we  ought  to  do 
it." 

"You'll  be  in  time  to  save  them,  then!"  the 
elder  boy  cried,  jumping  up  once  more,  like  a 
Jack-in-the-box.  "  You'll  be  in  time  to  save 
them  ! " 

"  Will  you  be  quiet,  if  you  please  ? "  I  said, 
poking  him  down  again  flat,  and  holding  my 
hand  on  his  mouth.  "  Oh,  yes  !  I  expect  we'll 
be  in  time  to  save  them.  If  only  you'll  let  us 
alone,  and  not  make  such  a  noise.  We  can  do 
nine  knots  an  hour  easy,  under  all  steam ;  and 


rilE  MYSTERY  SOLVED,  47 

that  ought  to  bring  us  up  to  Tanaki,  as  you  call 
it,  by  Wednesday  morning  in  the  very  small 
hours.  Let's  see,  we've  got  four  clear  days  to 
do  it  in." 

"  Five,"  the  boy  answered.  "  Five.  To-day's 
Friday." 

"  No,  no,"  I  replied,  curtly.  "  Will  you  please 
shut  up.?  Especially  when  you  only  darken 
counsel  with  many  words.  You're  out  of  your 
reckoning.  To-day's  Saturday,  I  tell  you."  And, 
in  point  of  fact,  indeed,  it  really  was  Saturday. 

"No,  it's  Friday,"  Martin  went  on,  with  ex- 
traordinary persistence. 

"Saturday,"  I  repeated.  "Knife;*  scissors; 
knife;  scissors." 

"But  wc  got  away  from  Tanaki  eight  days 
ago,"  the  boy  declared,  strongly,  with  a  very 
earnest  face;  "and  it  was  Thursday  when  we 
left.  I  kept  count  of  the  days  and  nights  all 
that  awful  time  we  were  tossing  about  on  the 
ocean  alone,  and  I'm  sure  I'm  right.  To-day's 
Friday." 

"Jim,"  I  said,  turning  to  my  brother,  "what 
day  of  the  week  do  you  make  it }  " 


4$  THE    CRUISE   OE   Tim  ALBATROSS. 

"  Why,  Saturday,  of  course,"  Jim  answered, 
with  confidence. 

I  went  to  the  bottom  of  the  companion-ladder 
and  called  out  aloud,  where  the  boy  could  hear 
me,  "  Tom  Blake,  what  day  of  the  week  and 
month  is  it  ?  " 

"  Saturday  the  sixth,  sir,"  Tom  called  out, 
promptly. 

"  There,  my  boy,"  I  said,  turning  to  him, 
"you  see  you're  mistaken.  You've  lost  count 
of  the  time  in  this  awful  journey  of  yours.  I 
expect  you  were  half  unconscious  the  last  day 
and  night.  But,  good  heavens,  Jim,  just  to 
think  of  what  they've  done !  They've  been  out 
nine  days  and  nights  in  an  open  boat,  almost 
without  food  or  drink,  and  they've  come  all 
that  incredible  distance  before  the  high  wind. 
Except  with  a  ripping  good  breeze  behind  them, 
they  could  never  have  done  it." 

"  For  my  part,"  said  Jim,  looking  up  from  his 
chart,  "  I  can  hardly  understand  how  they  ever 
did  it  at  all.  I  declare,  I  call  it  nothing  short 
of  a  miracle !  " 

And  so,  indeed,  it  was  ;  for  it  seemed  as  though 


THE  MYSTERY  SOL  TED.  49 

the  wind  had  drifted  them  straight  ahead,  from 
the  moment  they  started,  in  the  exact  direction 
where  the  Albatross  was  to  meet  them. 

I'm  an  old  seafaring  liand  by  this  time,  and  I 
may  be  superstitious,  but  I  see  the  finger  of  fate 
in  such  a  coincidence  as  that  one. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

MARTIN    LUTIIEr's    STORY. 

For  the  next  two  days  we  went  steaming 
ahead  as  hard  as  we  could  go  in  a  bee-line  to 
the  northeastward,  in  the  direction  of  the  Duke 
of  Cumberland's  Islands ;  but  it  was  two  days 
clear  before  those  unfortunate  boys,  Jack  and 
Martin,  —  for  that  was  what  they  called  one  an- 
other, for  short,  in  spite  of  their  severely  theo- 
logical second  names,  —  were  in  a  condition  to 
tell  us  exactly  what  had  happened,  without 
danger  to  their  shattered  nerves  and  impaired 
digestions. 

When  they  did  manage  to  speak,  —  both  at 
once,  for  choice,  in  their  eagerness  to  get  their 
story  out,  —  here's  about  what  their  history  came 
to,  as  we  pieced  it  together,  bit  by  bit,  from  the 
things  they  told  us  at  different  times.  If  I  were 
one  of  those  writing  chaps,  now,  that  know  how 
to  tell  a  whole  ten  years'  history,  end  on  end, 

50 


MAN  TIN  /.UTIf/'.K'S  STONY.  5 1 

exactly  as  it  happened,  without  missing  a  detail, 
I'd  get  it  all  out  for  you,  just  as  Martin  told  us; 
or,  better  still,  I'd  give  it  to  you  in  a  sinule  con- 
nected  piece,  between  inverted  commas,  as  his 
own   words,   beginning,    M  was   born,"  said   he, 
"  in  the  city  of  lulinburgh,"  and  so  forth,  after  the 
regular,  high-and-dry  literary  fashion.     But  how 
on  earth   those  clever  book-making  fellows  can 
ever  remember  a  whole  long  speech,  word  for 
word,   from    beginning    to    end,    I    never   could 
make  out,  and  never  shall,  neither.     What  mem- 
ories they  must  have  to  do  it,  to  be  sure!     It's 
my   own    belief    they    make    it  up,    more    than 
half  out  of  their  own  heads,  as  they  go  along, 
and  are  perfectly  happy  if  it  only  just  sounds 
plausible.      But   anyhow,    Martin    Luther    Mac- 
glashin   didn't   tell   us   all  his  story  at  a  single 
time,  or  in   a  connected  way ;  he  gave  us  a  bit 
now,  and  a  bit  again,  with  additions  from  Jack, 
according  as  he  was  able.     So  being,  as  I  say, 
no  more  than    a  free-and-easy    master    mariner 
myself,  without  skill  in  literature,  I'm  not  going 
to  try  to  repeat  it  all,  word  for  word,  to  you,  pre- 
cisely as  it  came,  but  shall  just  take  the  liberty 


52  THE   CRUISE    OF   THE   Af.HATROSS. 

of  spinning  my  yarn  my  own  way,  and  letting 
you  have,  in  short,  the  gist  and  substance  of 
what  we  gradually  got  out  of  our  two  fugitives. 
Well,  it  seems  that  Jack  and  Martin's  father 
was,  just  as  I  suspected,  a  Scotch  missionary  on 
the  Island  of  Tanaki.  He  lived  there  with  an- 
other family  of  missionaries  of  the  same  sect, 
in  peace  and  quiet,  as  well  as  with  an  English 
merchant  of  the  name  of  Williams,  who  traded 
with  the  natives  for  calico,  knives,  glass  beads, 
and  tobacco.  For  a  long  time  things  had  gone 
on  pretty  comfortably  in  the  little  settlement; 
though,  to  be  sure,  the  natives  did  sometimes 
steal  Mr.  Macglashin's  fowls,  or  threaten  to  tie 
Mr.  Williams  to  a  cocoanut  palm  and  take  cock- 
shots  at  him  with  a  Snider,  out  of  pure  lightness 
of  heart,  unless  he  gave  them  rum,  square  gin, 
or  brandy.  Still,  in  spite  of  these  playful  little 
eccentricities  of  the  good-humored  Kanakas, 
who  will  have  their  joke,  murder  or  no  murder, 
all  went  as  merrily  as  a  wedding  bell  (as  they  say 
in  novels),  till  suddenly  one  morning  a  French 
labor-vessel  —  I  suspect  the  very  one  we  had 
intercepted    in    the    act    of    trying    to    carry    off 


MARl^IN  LUTHER'S  STORY.  53 

Nassaline  — put  into    the   harbor   in   search    of 
"  apprentices." 

She  was  a  very  bad  lot,  from  what  the  boys 
told  us;  a  genuine  slaver  of  the  worst  type;  and 
she  stirred  up  a  deal  of  mischief  at  Makilolo. 

On  the  shore,  the  chief  of  Tanaki  was  drawn 
up  to  receive  them,  with  all  his  warriors,  taste- 
fully but  inexpensively  rigged  ouc  in  a  string  of 
blue  beads  round  the  neck,  an  anklet  of  shells, 
and  a  head-dress  of  a  single  large  yellow  feather. 
"  Who  are  you  ? "  shouts  the  chief,  at  the  top 
of  his  voice.     "  You  man  a  oui-otii?  " 

"  Yes,"  the  Frenchman  shouts  back,  in  his 
pigeon-English.  "Me  de  commander  of  dis 
French  ship.  Want  to  buy  boys.  Must  sell 
them  to  us.  Tanaki  French  island.  Discov- 
ered by  Bougainville." 

"  No,  no,"  says  the  chief,  in  picreon-Eno-Hsh 
again.  "Tanaki  no  belong  a  man  a  otii-oni, 
Tanaki  belong  a  Queenie  England.  Capitaney 
Cook  find  him  long  time  back.  My  father  little 
fellow  then;  him  see  Capitaney,  him  tell  me 
often.  Capitaney  Cook  no  man  a  oui-oui ;  him 
fellow  English." 


54  ^^^-^^    CRUISE    OF   rilK   ALBATROSS. 

The  other  natives  joined  in  at  once  with  their 
loud  cry,  "  Chief  speak  true.  Tanaki  belong  a 
Queenie  England.  Tanaki  no  belong  a  man  a 
out-out.  If  man  a  oui-oui  want  to  take  Tanaki, 
man  a  Tanaki  come  out  and  fight  him."  And 
they  threw  themselves  at  once  into  a  threaten- 
ing attitude. 

"  Have  you  got  any  Englishmen  here  ? "  the 
French  skipper  called  out,  to  make  sure  of  his 
ground. 

"  Yes,"  says  the  missionary,  —  our  boys'  father, 
—  standing  out  from  the  crowd.  "  Three  Eng- 
lish families  here.  Settled  on  the  island.  And 
we  deny  that  this  group  belongs  to  the  French 
Republic." 

At  that,  the  Frenchman  pulled  back  a  bit. 
When  he  saw  there  was  likely  to  be  opposition, 
and  that  his  proceedings  were  watched  by  three 
English  families,  he  drew  in  his  horns  a  little. 
He  knew  if  he  interfered  too  openly  with  the 
missionaries'  proceedings,  an  English  gunboat 
might  come  along,  sooner  or  later,  and  over- 
haul him  for  fomenting  discord  on  an  island 
known    to   be    under    the    British    protectorate. 


MARTIN  LUTHER^ S  STORY.  55 

So  he  only  answered,  in  French,  "Well,  we're 
peaceable  traders,  monsieur.  We  don't  want  to 
interfere  with  the  British  Government.  Consider 
us  friends.  All  we  desire  is  to  hire  laborers." 
And  he  landed  his  boat's  crew  before  the  very 
face  of  Macglashin  and  the  Tanaki  warriors. 

At  first,  as   often   happens  in    these   islands, 
the   natives  were  very  little   disposed    to  trade 
with  the  strangers  in  boys  or  women,  for  they 
were  afraid  of  the  Frenchmen  ;  and  Macglashin 
and  the  other  missionary  did  all  they  knew  to 
prevent  the   newcomers  from   carrying  off  any 
of  the  islanders  into  practical  slavery.     But  after 
awhile  the  Frenchmen  produced  their  regulation 
bottles  of  square  gin  (that's  what  they  call  Hol- 
lands in  the  South  Pacific),  and  began  to  treat 
the  chief   and  the  ot^er  savages  to  drinks   all 
round,  as  much   as  you  liked,   with  nothing  to 
pay  for  it.     In  a  very  short  time,  the  chief  had 
got  so  much  liquor  aboard  that  his  legs  wouldn't 
answer  the  rudder  any  longer,  and  he  began  to 
reel  about  like  a  perfect  madman.     Most  of  the 
other  full-grown  men  natives  followed  suit,  before 
long,  and  lay  down  on  the  beach  half  dead  with 


$6  THE    CRUISE    OE   THE   ALBATROSS. 

drunkenness.  Perhaps  the  liquor  was  drugged  ; 
perhaps  it  wasn't ;  but  anyhow,  in  spite  of  all  the 
missionaries  could  do,  the  shore,  before  nightfall, 
was  in  a  condition  of  the  wildest  and  most  bestial 
orgies.  The  men,  in  what  the  newspapers  call 
"  a  high  state  of  vinous  exhilaration,"  were  ready 
to  sell  their  boys  and  girls,  or  anything  else  on 
earth,  for  a  little  more  gin ;  and  as  the  mis- 
sionaries were  naturally  helpless  to  prevent  it, 
the  Frenchman  was  soon  driving  a  roaring 
trade  in  flesh  and  blood  against  the  drunken 
savages. 

The  businesslike  way  they  went  to  work, 
Jack  and  Martin  told  us,  was  horribly  disgust- 
ing. The  women,  indeed,  they  tried  to  wheedle 
and  cajole,  —  "  You  like  go  along  a  New  Caledo- 
nia along  a  me  ?  Only  three  yam  times ;  then 
ship  bring  you  back  again.  Very  good  feed ; 
plenty  nyam-nyam.  Pay  very  good.  Pay  money. 
Lots  of  shop.  You  buy  what  you  like :  you 
buy  red  dress,  red  handkerchief,  beads  like-a- 
chiefie.  No  fight ;  no  beat ;  no  swear  at  you. 
You  good  girl ;  I  good  fellow  master."  But  if 
they   couldn't    induce   them,  by  fair  words  and 


MARTIN  LUTHER'S  STORY.  57 

promises  and  little  presents  of  cheap  French 
finery,  to  put  their  mark  to  their  sham  inden- 
tures, then  they  just  knocked  them  down  with  a 
blow  on  the  head,  dragged  them  by  their  hair 
to  the  boats  hard  by,  and  got  their  fathers  or 
husbands  to  put  their  marks,  and  receive  a  few 
dollars  and  some  red  cloth  in  payment. 

As  for  the   boys,  they  handled   them  like  so 
many  animals  in  a  market.    "  Turn  round,  cochon  ! 
Show  me  your  face !     Milk  tonnerrcs,  let  me  see 
how  you  can  run,  you  dirty  young  blackguard !  " 
They  examined  them  as  a  veterinary  would  ex- 
amine a  horse.    "  Why,  there  was  our  litde  fellow, 
Nangaree,"  Jack  said  to  us,  with  deep  concern, 
"Nangaree,   that   used    to    clean    up    things   for 
mother  at  the  mission  house :  his  father  sold  him 
for  twenty  dollars.     The  captain   looked  at   his 
legs,  and  at  the  glands  in  his  throat,  to  see  if  he'd 
had  the  chicken-pox  and  the  measles.     Then  he 
said  to  his  mate, '  This  lot's  cheap  enough.     He's 
a  first-rate   lad,   and   can   speak   English.     He'll 
do  for  the  hold.     Bundle  him  along    '     And  the 
mate  caught  him  up  by  the  scruff  of  his  neck 
and    hauled    him    to    the    boats,    kicking    and 


58  THE   CRUISE   OF   THE   ALBATROSS. 

screaming;   and   that   was    the    last  we   saw  of 
poor  Nangaree  ! " 

For  three  days  and  nights,  it  seems,  this  hor- 
rible inhuman  market  or  slave-fair  went  on  upon 
the  beach,  the  Frenchmen  taking  care  to  keep 
the  natives  well  primed  with  spirits  all  the  time, 
till  they'd  got  their  hold  full,  and  were  prepared 
to  sail  away  again  with  their  living  cargo.  Then 
at  last  they  upped  anchor,  and  out  of  the  harbor. 
But  before  they  went,  the  skipper,  it  appears,  who 
was  angry  at  the  missionaries  for  having  inter- 
fered with  him,  and  was  afraid  they  might  report 
his  proceedings  to  the  British  Government  when 
next  the  mission  ship  came  that  way  on  her  pro- 
visioning rounds,  took  aside  the  chief  in  a  confi- 
dential  chat,  and  tried  to  inflame  his  mind,  all 
mad  drunk  that  he  was,  against  the  English  resi- 
dents. Apparently  he  had  made  so  good  a  three 
days'  work  of  it  with  his  horrible  trade,  and  found 
it  so  convenient  to  draw  his  supplies  from  this  re- 
mote and  almost  unvisjted  island,  that  he  thought 
it  would  be  nice  if,  before  his  next  visit,  he  could 
o-et  rid  altofjether  of  these  meddlesome  strangers. 
Me  didn't  want  any  European  witnesses  to  crop 


MARTIN  LU THERMS  STORY.  59 

up  against  him  in  future;  so  he  told  the  chief, 
with  a  great  show  of  confidence,  that  Macglashin 
and   his   friends   were    not   Enghsh   at   all,   but 
Scotch ;  and  he  pointed  out  that  it  was  uncom- 
fortable for  the  natives  to  be  interfered  with  in 
their  trading  operations  by  a  set  of  white-livered 
curs  who  objected  to  the  selling  of  boys  and  girls 
into  temporary  slavery.      Surely  a  chief  ha'd   a 
right  to  do  as  he  would  with  his  own  subjects  ! 
What  else  he  said,  heaven   knows;  but  this   is 
what  happened  as  soon  as  the  French,  with  their 
horrid  cargo,  had  got  well  clear  of  the  unhappy 
island. 

That  very  afternoon,  the  chief,  beginning  to 
get  sober  again,  but  quarrelsome  from  headache 
and  the  other  after-effects  of  a  long  debauch, 
came  round  to  the  mission  house  in  a  towering 
rage,  and  asked  the  unsuspecting  missionar>t 
"  Say,  white  man,  are  you  a  Scotchman?  " 

"  Ves,"said  Macglashin,  not  knowing  what  was 
coming,  "  I'm  a  Scotchman,  chief,  certainly.  I 
was  born  in  Scotland." 

The  chief  laughed  loud.  "  Ha,  ha,"  he  said, 
"  then  Queenie  England  no  take  care  a  you.    No 


6o  THE    CRUISE   OF   THE  ALBATROSS. 

send  gunboat  to  shoot  us  all  dead,  if  man  a  Ta- 
naki  come  up  and  kill  you." 

At  that  Macglashin  grew  alarmed,  and  an- 
swered, "Oh,  yes!  The  Queen  of  England  would 
certainly  avenge  us."  And  he  tried  to  explain 
the  exact  relation  in  which  Scotchmen  stood  to 
the  British  crown,  —  that  they  were  just  as  much 
British  subjects  as  Englishmen,  entitled  to  pre- 
cisely the  same  amount  of  protection.  But  the 
chief  couldn't  be  made  to  understand.  The 
French  skipper  had  evidently  poisoned  his  mind 
against  them.  "  Man  a  Tanaki  don't  want  no 
Scotchman  interfere  with  chief  when  him  go  to 
sell  him  boy  and  him  woman,"  the  savage  said, 
angrily.  "  Tanaki  belong  a  Queenie  England. 
Queenie  England  no  want  Scotchman  interfere 
with  people  in  Tanaki.  Scotchman  better  keep 
quiet  in  him  house.  Queenie  England  no  mind 
Scotchman." 

And  no  amount  of  reasoning  produced  any 
effect  upon  him. 

The  missionaries  went  to  bed  that  evening 
with  many  misgivings.  They  felt  that,  for  the 
first  time,  so  far  as  the  natives  were  concerned, 


Martin  luther's  story,  6i 

the  powerful  protection  of  the  British  flag  was 
now  practically  withdrawn  from  them.  They 
were  alone,  as  strangers,  among  those  excited 
black  fellows. 

At  dead  of  night,  while  the  two  boys  slept,  a 
horrible   din  outside   the  mission  house  awoke 
them.     They  looked  out,  and  saw  the  red  glare  of 
torches  outside.     A  frightful  horde  of  Kanakas, 
naked  save  for  their  war-paint,  drunk  with  the' 
Frenchman's  rum  and  armed  with  his  Sniders, 
surrounded  the  frail  building  in  a  hideous  mob 
of  savagery.     As  Martin  put  his  head  out  of  the 
lattice  a  bullet  came  whizzing  past.     He  with- 
drew it  for  a  moment,  terrified,  and  then  looked 
out  again.     As  he  did  so  the  other  Scotch  mis- 
sionary appeared  upon  the  veranda,  half  dressed, 
and,  holding  up  his  hand   in  dignified   remon- 
strance, began  in  Kanaka  with  his  gentle,  mild 
voice,  "  My  friends,  my  dear  friends  —  "     Before 
he  could  get  any  further,  the  chief  stepped  for- 
ward, and,  aiming  a  blow  at  his  gray  locks  with  a 
sacred  native  tomahawk,  felled  the  peaceful  old 
teacher  senseless  to  the  ground.     Martin  shud- 
dered with  horror.     The  old  man  lay  weltering 


62  THE   CRUISE   OF   THE   ALBATROSS. 

In  a  pool  of  his  red,  gushing  gore,  while  the 
savages  danced  in  triumph  over  his  prostrate 
body,  or  smeared  themselves  with  great  lines 
and  circles  of  his  warm  heart-blood. 

"  Come  on ! "  the  chief  cried  in  Kanaka. 
"  Kill  all !  Kill  every  one  !  They're  taboo  to 
our  gods.  Don't  fear  their  gunboats.  Queenie 
England  won't  trouble  to  protect  a  Scotch- 
man." 

Then  began  a  hideous  orgy  of  wild  lust  and 
slaughter.  The  savages  rushed  on,  drunk  with 
blood  and  rum,  and  dragged  out  the  wife  and 
children  of  the  other  missionary,  whom  they 
brained  upon  the  spot,  before  the  terrified  eyes 
of  the  trembling  Macglashins.  The  trader  Wil- 
liams ran  up,  just  then,  with  his  revolver  in  his 
hand,  followed  by  two  faithful  black  servants 
from  a  neighboring  island  ;  but  the  French  skip- 
per had  been  cunning  enough  there,  too.  "  Him 
a  Welshman  !  "  the  savages  cried.  "  Queenie 
England  no  care  for  him ! "  For  indeed  he 
happened  to  be  born  in  Wales.  And  they  shot 
him  down  as  he  came,  before  he  could  open  fire 
upon  them.     Then  they  turned  to  massacre  the 


MARTIN  LUrnER\^  ^TORY.  63 

Macglashins,  the  only  remaining  Europeans  on 
the  island. 

But  just  at  that  moment  a  sudden  idea  seemed 
to  strike  the  chief.     He  cried  out,  "  Stop  I  "    The 
savages  fell  back,  and  listened  with  eagerness  to 
what  was  coming.      Then  the  chief  sliouted  out 
again    in    Kanaka:    "I    have   a   thought.      The 
gods  have  sent  it  to  me.     This  is  my  thought. 
We   have   killed   enough   for   to-night.     Let'^us 
catch  them  alive  and  bind  them.     Next  moon  is 
the  great  feast  of  my  father  Taranaka.     I  have 
an  idea  — a  divine  idea.     Let  us  keep  them  till 
that  day,  and  then,  in  honor  of  the  gods,  let  us 
roast  them  and  eat  them." 

The  whole  assembly  answered,  with  a  wild 
shout  of  delighted  assent,  "Taranaka!  Tara- 
naka !  Our  great  dead  chief !  In  honor  of 
Taranaka,  let  us  roast  them  and  eat  them." 

So  they  rushed  wildly  on  upon  the  defenceless 
white  family,  bound  them  in  rude  cords  of  native 
make,  and  carried  them  off  in  triumph  to  Tara- 
naka's  temple  tomb  in  the  palm  grove. 

And  that  was  as  much  as  we  could  allow  the 
boys  to  tell  us,  at  a  time,  of  their  strange  adven- 


64  THE   CRUISE   OE  THE   ALBATROSS. 

tures.  We  were  afraid  of  overtaxing  their 
strength  at  first,  and  tried  to  confine  their  at- 
tention as  much  as  possible  to  tinned  meats,  and 
sea-biscuit  soaked  in  condensed  milk;  though 
I'm  bound  to  admit  that  as  soon  as  they  began 
to  recover  appetite  a  bit,  they  addressed  them- 
selves steadily  and  seriously  to  their  food,  with 
true  British  pluck  and  perseverance.  In  spite 
of  the  terrors  from  which  they  had  just  escaped, 
they  did  the  fullest  justice  to  Serang-Palo's 
cookery. 


CHAPTER   V. 

A    KREAK-DOVVN. 

Time  went  on,  and  the  boys  began  to  grow 
visibly  fatter.     It  was  Tuesday  evening,  and  we 
hoped,  i)utting  on  all  steam  as  we  were  doino- 
to  reach  Tanaki  by  the  small  hours  of  Wednes- 
day morning,  in  good  season  to  relieve  the  four 
unhappy   souls    still,    as    we    believed,   detained 
there   in   captivity.      We   were  strained  on   the" 
very  rack  of  excitement,  indeed,  with  our  efforts 
to   arrive    before    the    savages    could    take    any 
further   step;   and   the   boys'   anxiety   for   their 
parents'  and   their   sister's  safety   had   naturally 
communicated   itself   to    us,   as    we   listened    to 
their  story.     Why,  it  was  that  very  evening  that 
Martin  had  told  us  the  rest  of  his  strange  tale 
—  how  his  father  and  mother,  with  his  younger 
brother  Calvin  and  his  sister  Miriam,  had  been 
confined  by  the  savages  in  the  grass-hut  temple, 

65 


66  THE   CRUISE   OF  THE  ALBATROSS. 

while  he  and  Jack  were  put  to  He  in  an  open 
outhouse  hard  by,  guarded  only  by  a  single 
half-intoxicated  Kanaka.  Well,  in  the  middle 
of  the  night,  those  two  brave  boys  had  silently 
gnawed  their  ropes  asunder,  and,  creeping  past 
their  guard,  had  stolen  away  to  the  beach  in  the 
desperate  effort  to  escape  in  search  of  assistance. 
There  they  luckily  found  the  mission  boat 
hauled  down  on  the  shore ;  and  waiting  only  to 
take  a  can  of  water  from  the  spring  close  by, 
and  a  bunch  of  half-ripe  bananas  from  a  garden 
on  the  harbor,  they  had  put  forth  alone  on  their 
wild  and  adventurous  voyage  across  the  lone 
Pacific.  I  can  tell  you,  it  brought  the  tears  to 
our  eyes  more  than  once,  rough  sailors  as  we 
were,  to  hear  the  strange  story  of  their  hope- 
less sail;  and  it  made  our  blood  boil  to  learn 
how  these  ungrateful  savages  had  repaid  the 
earnest  and  devoted  life-labor  of  the  unhappy 
missionaries. 

"  No  wonder  him  hungry,"  that  young  monkey 
Nassaline  said,  with  profound  condolence,  "  if 
him  don't  hab  nufifin  to  eat  for  ten  day  long  but 
unripe  banana."     Anything  that  concerned  the 


A    BREAK- DOIVIV.  6^ 

human  stomach  always  touched  a  most  tender 
and  responsive  chord  in  Nassaline's  sympathies. 

At  eight  bells,  when  my  watch  was  up,  I  went 
off  for  a  quiet  snooze  to  my  cabin.  I  knew  I 
should  be  wanted  for  hot  work  about  tliree  in 
the  morning,  for  I  didn't  expect  to  effect  the 
rescue  without  a  hard  fight  for  it ;  so  I  thought 
it  best  to  get  what  sleep  I  could  before  arriving 
at  the  islands.  So  I  lay  in  my  berth,  with  my 
eyes  shut,  and  a  thin  sheet  spread  over  me  (for 
it  was  broiling  hot  tropical  weather),  and  I  was 
just  beginning  to  doze  off  in  comfort,  when  sud- 
denly I  felt  something  move  under  me  like  a 
young  earthquake.  Next  minute  I  was  jolted 
clean  out  of  my  bed,  with  such  a  jerk  that  I 
thought  at  first  we  were  all  going  to  sleep  on 
the  bed  of  the  ocean. 

"  Halloo,"  I  cried  out  to  Jim,  up  atop,  rushing 
out  of  my  cabin.  "  What's  up }  Anything 
wrong  }     What's   happened  ?  " 

"  Grazed  a  reef,  I  guess,"  Jim  shouted  back, 
calmly.  "  No  land  in  sight,  but  shoal  water 
and  breakers  ahead.  We  seem  to  be  in 
danger." 


68  THE    CRUISE   OF   THE   ALBATROSS. 

Cool  chap,  Jim,  under  no  matter  what  circum- 
stances. But  this  looked  serious.  In  a  second 
I  was  up,  and  peering  out  over  the  bows  into 
the  dark,  black  water.  The  Albatross  had 
slowed,  and  was  reversing  engines.  All  round 
us  we  could  see  great  heaving  breakers. 

"  No  land  hereabouts,"  Jim  sung  out,  con- 
sulting the  chart  once  more.  "  We  ought  to  be 
at  least  five  miles  to  suth'ard  of  the  Great 
Caycos    Band    Reef." 

As  he  spoke,  I  saw  Martin's  white  face  ap- 
pearing suddenly  at  the  top  of  the  companion- 
ladder.  He  flung  up  his  hands  in  an  agony  of 
despair.  "  Oh,  how  terrible  !  "  the  poor  lad 
blurted  out  in  his  misery.  "  I  ought  to  have 
remembered  !  I  ought  to  have  told  you  !  Father 
says  the  charts  hereabouts  are  all  many  miles 
wrong  in  their  bearings.  The  Caycos  Reef  lies 
six  or  seven  knots  south  by  west  of  the  point  it's 
marked   at !  " 

In  a  ferment  of  anxiety  I  turned  up  our 
other  Sydney  charts  at  once  to  test  his  state- 
ment. Sure  enough,  there  was  a  discrepancy, 
a  considerable  discrepancy,  both  in  latitude  and 


A   BREAK- DOWN.  69 

longitude,  between  the  two  maps.  At  the  mar- 
gin of  one  I  read  this  vague  and  uncomfortable 
note :  "  These  islands  are  reported  by  certain 
navigators  to  lie  further  south  and  west  than 
here  laid  down,  and  have  never  been  accurately 
surveyed  by  good  authorities.  Careful  naviga- 
tion by  day  alone  is  recommended  to  master 
mariners." 

Jim  looked  at  me,  and  I  looked  at  Jim. 
What  on  earth  could  we  do  in  such  a  fix  as 
this?  To  go  on  in  the  dark,  with  unknown 
reefs  before  us,  was  to  imperil  the  Albatross 
and  all  on  board ;  to  cast  anchor  where  we 
stood  and  hold  back  till  daylight  was  to  risk 
not  arriving  in  time  to  rescue  the  unfortunate 
missionary  with  his  wife  and  family.  I  glanced 
at  the  boy's  white  face  as  he  stood  by  the  com- 
panion-ladder, and  made  up  my  mind  at  once. 
Come  what  might,  I  must  push  forward  and 
save  them. 

"  Slow  engines,"  I  called  down  the  pipe,  "  and 
proceed  half  speed  till  further  orders.  Jim,  go 
for'ard,  and  keep  a  sharp  eye  on  the  breakers. 
As   soon  as  we're   clear,  we'll    steam   ahead,  full 


70  THE    CRUISE    OF   THE   ALBATROSS. 

pelt  again,  and  risk  going  ashore  sooner  than 
leave  these  poor  folks  on  the  island  to  be  cruelly 
massacred." 

"  Thank  you,"  the  boy  said,  with  an  ashy 
face,  and  lay  down  upon  the  deck,  unmanned 
and  trembling.  His  lips  were  as  white,  I  give 
you  my  word,  as  this  sheet  of  paper  I'm  this 
moment  writing  upon. 

For  a  hundred  yards  or  so  we  slowed,  and 
went  ahead  without  coming  to  any  further  stop ; 
then,  suddenly,  a  sharp  thud,  —  a  dull  sound  of 
grating,  —  a  thrill  through  the  ship;  and  Jim, 
looking  up  from  in  front,  with  a  cool  face  as 
usual,  called  out  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  but 
with  considerable  annoyance,  "  Well,  now,  we're 
aground  again ! " 

And  so  we  were,  this  time  with  a  vengeance. 

"  Back  her,"  I  called  out,  "  back  her  hard, 
Jenkins ! "  and  they  backed  her  as  hard  as  the 
engines  could  spurt;  but  nothing  came  of  it. 
We  were  jammed  on  the  reef  about  as  tight 
as  a  ship  could  stick,  and  no  power  on  earth 
could  ever  have  got  us  off  till  the  tide  rose 
again. 


A   BREAK- DOWN.  7 1 

Well,  we  tried  our  very  hardest,  reversing 
engines  first,  and  then  putting  them  forward 
again,  to  see  if  we  could  run  through  it  by 
main  force;  but  it  was  all  in  vain.  Aground 
we  were,  and  aground  we  must  remain  till 
there  was  depth  of  water  enough  on  the  reef 
to  float  us. 

Fortunately,  the  tide  was  rising  fast,  and  three 

hours  more  would  see  us  out  of  our  difficulties. 

Three  hours   was  a   very  serious  delay;    but   I 

calculated  if  we  got  off  the  reef  by  two  in  the 

morning,    we   should    still    have    time    to    reach 

Tanaki  pretty  comfortably  before   seven.      We 

must  enter  the   harbor  by  daylight,   no  doubt, 

which   would    perhaps   be   dangerous;  because, 

^'hen   the   savages   saw   us   arrive,    they   might 

make  haste   to   cut   the  white  people's   throats 

before  we  could  get   up  to  rescue  them.     But 

I  thought  it  more  likely  they  would  try  to  save 

them,  to  prevent  our  opening  fire  upon  them  by 

way  of  punishment;  so,  with  what  comfort  we 

could,  we  stuck  on   upon   the   reef,  and  waited 

for  the  inevitable  tide  to  come  and  float  us. 

Waiting  for  the  tide  is  always  slow  business. 


72  THE    CRUISE    OF    THE  ALBATROSS. 

At  about  half -past  one,  however,  the  water 
began  to  deepen  under  the  ship,  and  we  could 
feel  her  rise  and  fall,  —  bump,  bump,  bump, — 
with  each  onslaught  of  the  breakers.  Now, 
bumping  on  a  reef  isn't  exactly  wholesome  for 
a  ship's  bottom,  so  I  gave  the  word  to  Jenkins 
for  the  engines  to  go  to  work  again ;  and  pres- 
ently, after  two  or  three  unsuccessful  attempts, 
we  got  her  safe  off,  by  energetic  reversing,  and 
found,  to  our  great  delight,  that  the  Albatross, 
like  a  tight  little  craft  that  she  was,  had  sprung 
no  leak,  and  was  making  no  water.  Her  sound 
old  timbers  had  just  grazed  the  surface  of  that 
flat -topped  reef  without  suffering  any  serious 
internal  injury. 

As  soon  as  we  were  free,  and  had  examined 
our  hold,  I  shouted  down,  once  more,  "  Now, 
forward,  boys,  as  hard  as  you  can  go,  and  mind, 
Jenkins,  you  make  her  travel ! " 

To  my  immense  surprise,  instead  of  obeying 
my  orders,  the  Albatross  suddenly  stood  stock- 
still  in  the  trough  of  a  wave,  drifting  helplessly 
about  like  a  log  on  the  ocean. 

"  Now  then,"  I  shouted  down  again,  half  angry 


A   BREAK- DOWN.  73 

and  half  alarmed,  "what  are  you  doing  there, 
Jenkins?  Didn't  you  hear  what  I  said?  Stir 
your  stumps,  my  friend!  Double  time,  and 
forward ! " 

Imagine  my  horror  when  the  engineer  shouted 
back,  in  a  voice  of  blank  dismay,  "  I  can't,  sir. 
She  won't  work.  Don't  answer  to  the  valve. 
We've  injured  something  in  backing  her  off  the 
reef   there." 

This  was  an  awkward  job.  And  at  such  a 
crisis,  too !  In  a  minute  I  was  down  in  the 
engine-room  myself,  inspecting  all  the  valves 
and  bearings,  with  lamp  in  hand,  and  with  the 
closest  scrutiny.  Before  long  we  had  ascer- 
tained the  extent  of  the  injury.  A  piece  of 
the  engine  was  broken  that  would  certainly 
take  us  six  or  eight  hours  to  repair.  And  it 
was  already  two  o'clock  on  the  Wednesday 
morning ! 

But  that  wasn't  all,  either.  Another  serious 
difficulty  beset  us  in  our  work.  We  were  beat- 
ing about  in  the  angry  sea  off  the  Caycos 
Reef,  with  the  breakers  dashing  in,  and  the 
surf  running   high.     If  we    tried    to    mend    the 


74  THE    CRUISE    OF   THE   AI.PyATROSS. 

broken  engine  where  we  stood,  we  should  in- 
fallibly be  dashed  to  pieces  on  the  dangerous 
shallows.  You  can't  go  to  work  like  that  on 
a  lee  shore,  with  no  engine  to  fall  back  upon, 
and  the  wind  blowing  half  a  gale.  The  only 
thing  possible  for  us  was  to  hoist  sail  and  make 
for  the  open  sea  to  southward  under  all  can- 
vas. That  was  taking  us  further  away  from 
Tanaki,  of  course ;  but  it  was  our  one  chance 
of  getting  our  engine  repaired  in  peace  and 
quiet. 

So  we  hoisted  sail  and  stood  out  to  sea  once 
more,  leaving  the  dim,  long  line  of  surf  gradually 
behind  us  on  the  lee,  and  beating,  by  constant 
tacks,  against  the  wind,  which  had  now  veered 
to  the  southeast,  and  was  blowing  us  straight 
on  to  the  Caycos  shallows. 

By  four  o'clock  we'd  got  so  far  out  that  we 
thought  we  might  lie  to  a  bit  and  take  a  few 
hands  off  navigating  duty  to  assist  the  engineer 
in  repairing  his  engine. 

But  it  proved  a  much  more  difficult  and 
lengthy  task  to  retrieve  the  mischief  than  we 
had  at  first  sight  at  all  anticipated.     The  min- 


A   BREAK- DOWN.  75 

utes  went  by  with  appalling  rapidity.  Five 
o'clock  came,  and  the  smith -was  only  just  get- 
ting his  iron  well  hammered  into  shape.  Six 
o'clock,  and  the  engineer  was  still  fitting  the 
place  it  came  from.  Seven  o'clock  —  something 
wrong,  surely,  with  the  ship's  time !  Before  this 
hour  I  had  hoped  to  be  anchored  off  the  harbor 
of  Tanaki. 

Seven  o'clock  on  Wednesday  morning;  and 
by  twelve  at  noon,  so  the  boys  assured  us,  the 
ovens  would  be  made  hot  at  Taranaka's  tomb 
for  those  unfortunate  prisoners  on  the  remote 
island ! 

Oh,  how  frantically  we  worked  for  the  next 
two  hours !  and  how  remorselessly  everything 
seemed  to  turn  against  us!  How  is  it  that 
whenever  one's  in  the  greatest  hurry  all  nature 
seems  to  conspire  to  defeat  one's  purpose }  I 
won't  attempt  to  explain  to  you  all  the  petty 
mishaps  and  unfortunate  failures  that  attended 
our  efforts.  It  seemed  as  if  iron,  wood,  and 
coal  —  all  inanimate  matter  itself  —  was  banded 
together  to  make  our  further  approach  to  Ta- 
naki   impossible.     By   nine  o'clock   I   knew   the 


"J^y  THE   CRUISE   OE   THE   ALBATROSS. 

worst  myself.  The  break-down  to  the  engine 
was  far  more  serious  than  we  had  at  first  im- 
agined. I  felt  sure  that  before  noon,  at  earliest, 
with  all  our  skill  and  toil,  we  couldn't  possibly 
repair  it. 

But  I  shrank  from  telling  those  two  poor 
trembling  lads  that  there  was  no  hope  now  left 
of  saving  their  parents. 

Gradually,  however,  as  the  day  wore  on,  they 
discovered  it  themselves,  —  they  saw  that  the 
golden  opportunity  had  been  lost  for  us.  As 
each  hour  passed  by  they  told  us,  with  ever 
redoubled  horror,  what  they  knew  must  at  that 
moment  be  passing  on  the  island.  Now  the 
savages  would  be  bringing  their  father  out  be- 
fore the  prison  hut,  and  sacrificing  him  with 
their  tomahawks  by  the  hideous  blood-stained 
altar  of  their  great  dead  chieftain.  Now  their 
poor  mother  would  be  crouching  on  the  ground, 
trying  in  vain  to  protect  their  helpless  little 
brother.  Now  Miriam  herself,  little  golden- 
haired,  three-year-old,  innocent  Miriam  —  but 
at  that  last  horror  they  broke  down  in  tears, 
and  could  say  no  more.     They  could  only  sob, 


A    BREAK- DOIVN.  77 

and  hide  their  faces  in  their  hands  with  speech- 
less agony  at  that  unspeakable  picture. 

By  noon  we  knew  the  worst  must  be  over. 
They  were  at  rest  now,  poor  souls,  from  their 
month-long  misery.  The  afternoon  dragged  on, 
and  we  worked  hard  still,  on  the  mere  chance 
of  some  respite  which  might  enable  us  to  rescue 
them.  But  we  felt  sure  the  end  had  come,  for 
all  that.  We  worked  away  by  the  mere  force 
of  pure  aimless  energy.  It  distracted  us  from 
thinking  of  the  awful  events  which  we  never- 
theless in  our  hearts  felt  certain  must  have 
happened. 

It  was  eight  at  night  before  we  got  the  Alba- 
tross fairly  under  weigh  again  ;  and  even  then 
she  lumbered  slowly,  slowly  on,  the  engine  be- 
ing only  somehow  repaired,  in  the  most  clumsy 
fashion,  till  we  could  reach  harbor  once  more, 
and  quietly  overhaul  her. 

So  we  steamed  ahead,  feebly  and  cautiously, 
all  night  long,  keeping  a  sharp  lookout  for  land 
across  our  bows,  and  with  Martin  on  deck  al- 
most all  the  time,  to  aid  us  by  his  close  personal 
knowledge  of  the  island  approaches. 


7^  THE    CRUISE    OF   THE   Al.HATROSS. 

Wednesday  the  tenth  was  over  now.  The 
terrible  day  had  come  and  gone.  We  didn't 
doubt  that  the  massacre  was  completed  long 
before  the  clock  struck  one  on  Thursday 
morning. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

ON    THE    ISLAND. 

At  Tanaki,  meanwhile,  as  we  afterwards 
learned  by  inquiry  among  the  islanders,  things 
had  been  going  on  with  the  unhappy  mission- 
ary very  much  as  our  worst  fears  had  led  us 
to  expect.  Though  I  wasn't  there  at  the  time 
to  see  for  myself,  I  got  to  know  what  happened 
a  litde  later  almost  as  well  as  if  I'd  been  on  the 
spot ;  so  I  shall  take  the  liberty  once  more  — 
not  being  one  of  these  book-making  chaps  —  of 
telling  my  story  my  own  way,  and  explaining 
how  matters  went,  in  rough  sailor  fashion,  with- 
out trying  to  let  you  know  in  detail  how  we 
found  it  all  out  till  I  come  to  explain  the  up- 
shot of  our  present  adventures. 

Well,  on  the  night  when  Martin  and  Jack 
stole  away  from  the  hut  and  got  clear  off  on 
their  venturesome  journey  in  the  mission  boat, 
their  father  and  mother,  with  little  Calvin,  who 

79 


80  THE    CRUISE    OF   THF:   ALBATROSS. 

was  eight  years  old,  and  Miriam,  who  was  a 
pretty  wee  lassie  of  three,  were  heavily  guarded 
by  half  a  dozen  desperate  and  drunken  savages 
in  the  temple  tomb  of  the  deceased  Taranaka. 
It  was  a  thatched  native  grass-house,  with  a 
bare  mud  floor,  and  a  rough  altar-slab  raised 
high  on  the  threshold,  which  covered  the  re- 
mains of  the  bloodthirsty  old  chieftain,  —  the 
man  who  in  his  early  youth  had  seen  "  Capi- 
taney  Cook,"  when  he  discovered  the  islands. 
The  Melanesian  natives,  I  ought  to  tell  you, 
recfard  their  dead  ancestors  as  a  sort  of  eods 
or  guardian  spirits,  and  frequently  offer  up 
food  and  drink  at  their  graves  as  presents  to 
appease  them.  Every  morning,  gifts  of  taro, 
breadfruit,  and  plantain  were  laid  on  the  altar 
by  Taranaka  s  tomb ;  and  once  every  ten  days 
a  little  square  gin,  mixed  with  cocoa-milk,  was 
poured  out  upon  the  rude  slab  of  unsculptured 
stone,  that  the  dead  chief's  orhost  mioht  come  to 
drink  of  it,  and  be  satisfied.  Wednesday  the 
tenth  was  the  anniversary  of  Taranaka's  death 
(he  had  been  killed  in  a  fight  with  some  neigh- 
boring islanders,  who  fell  out  with  him  over  the 


ON   THE   ISLAND.  8 1 

wreck  of  an  American  whaling  vessel),  and  it 
was  on  that  festival  clay  that  the  chief  proposed 
offering  up  the  blood  of  our  fellow  countrymen 
as  an  expiation  to  the  shades  of  his  departed 
relative. 

IVIacglashin  and  his  wife  never  even  knew  that 
the  boys  had  escaped.  If  they  had,  those  long 
days  of  suspense  might  have  been  even  worse  for 
them.  They  might  have  been  looking  forward 
with  mad  hope  to  some  miracle  of  rescue,  such 
as  that  which  the  Albatross  had  so  boldly 
planned,  and  which  had  been  so  cruelly  inter- 
fered with  by  the  break-dow^n  of  our  machinery. 
As  it  was,  the  savages  carefully  kept  from  them 
all  knowledge  of  their  boys'  escape.  They  never 
even  breathed  a  hint  of  that  desperate  voyage. 
Every  day,  on  the  contrary,  when  they  brought 
the  unhappy  missionary  and  his  wife  their  daily 
rations  of  yam  and  banana,  they  taunted  them 
with  threats  of  what  tortures  the  chief  had  still 
in  store  for  Jack  and  Martin.  They  were  fatting 
them  up,  they  said,  for  Taranaka  to  feed  upon. 
On  Taranaka's  day  they  would  be  offered  up  as 
victims  on  the  cannibal  altar. 


82  THE   CRUISE   OF   THE  ALBATROSS. 

But  the  most  terrible  part  of  all  the  poor 
father's  and  mother's  sufferings  was  the  fact  that 
they  couldn't  keep  the  knowledge  of  that  awful 
fate  in  store  for  them  even  from  Calvin  and 
pretty  little  Miriam.  Macglashin's  diary,  which 
I  read  later  on,  was  just  heartrending  about  the 
children.  Those  helpless  mites  cowered  all  day 
long  on  the  bare  mud  floor  of  that  hideous 
temple,  awaiting  the  horrible  doom  that  the 
savages  held  out  before  them  with  the  painful 
resignation  of  innocent  childhood.  They  were 
too  frightened  to  cry  over  it;  too  frightened  to 
talk  of  it ;  they  only  crouched,  pale  and  terrified, 
by  their  mother's  side,  and  dragged  out  the  long 
day  in  horrible  apprehensions.  They  knew  they 
must  die,  and  they  sat  there,  watching  for  that 
inevitable  sentence  to  be  carried  out,  with  the 
stoical  fortitude  of  utter  childish  helplessness. 
Well,  there,  —  I'm  an  old  hand  on  the  sea,  you 
know,  and  I  don't  mind  the  dangers  of  the  wind 
and  waves  for  grown  men  and  boys,  that  can 
look  after  themselves,  any  more  than  most  of 
you  land-folks  mind  dodging  about  in  the 
Strand    at    Charing  Cross  on  a  crowded   after- 


ON   THE   ISLAND.  83 

noon  in  the  London  season ;  but  I  can't  bear 
to  talk,  or  even  to  think,  of  what  those  poor 
children  suffered  all  those  terrible  days  in  the 
heathen  tomb-house.  There  are  things  that 
make  a  man's  blood  run  cold  to  speak  al^out. 
That  makes  mine  run  cold ;  I  can't  dwell  on 
it  any  longer;  it's  too  ghastly  to  realize. 

So  there,  —  the  days  went  by,  one  after  an- 
other; and  Monday  the  eighth  came,  and  Tues- 
day the  ninth,  and  still  no  chance  of  escape  or 
rescue.  Up  to  the  last  moment,  Macglashin 
hoped  (as  he  says  in  the  diary)  that  some  miracle 
might  occur  to  set  them  free,  some  interposition 
of  Providence  on  their  behalf  to  prevent  the  last 
misfortune  from  overtaking  his  poor,  pallid  little 
Miriam.  Perhaps  the  mission  ship,  that  went 
her  rounds  twice  a  year,  might  happen  to  put 
in,  out  of  due  season,  with  some  special  mes- 
sage, or  under  stress  of  weather;  or  perhaps 
some  whaling  vessel  or  some  English  gunboat 
might  arrive  in  the  nick  of  time  in  the  little 
harbor  of  Tanaki.  But  when  Tuesday  evening 
came,  and  no  help  had  arrived,  the  unhappy 
man's  heart  sank  within  him.     He  gave  up  that 


84  THE    CRUISE    OE   THE   ALBATROSS. 

last  wild  hope  of  a  rescue  at  the  eleventh  hour, 
and  addressed  himself  to  die  with  what  courage 
he  could  muster. 

Ah,  yes,  to  die  oneself  is  all  easy  enough ; 
nobody  worth  his  salt  minds  that ;  but  to  see 
one's  wife  and  children  murdered  before  one's 
eyes, —  there,  I'm  a  rough  sort  of  sailor-body, 
as  I  said  before,  but  you  must  excuse  my  break- 
ing off.  I  hax'cn't  got  the  strength  to  hold  my 
pen  and  write  about  it.  Why,  I've  a  boy  of 
my  own  at  school  at  Sydney,  and  my  Mary's  in 
England,  bless  her  little  heart!  at  a  lady's  col- 
lege, they  call  it  nowadays ;  and  I  know  what  it 
means;  I  know  what  it  means,  gentlemen.  I'd 
no  more  expose  those  two  dear  children  in  the 
places  I've  been  among  the  islands  myself,  than 
—  well,  than  I'd  send  them  to  sea  alone  in  a 
cockboat.  And  my  heart  just  bleeds  for  that 
poor  father  at  Tanaki,  when  I  read  his  diary 
over  again,  though  I  haven't  got  the  skill  to 
put  it  all  down  in  words  at  full  length,  as  one  of 
those  fellows  would  do  that  write  for  the  news- 
papers. 

However,   on    Tuesday    night,    neither    Mac- 


ON   THE   ISLAND.  85 

glashin  himself  nor  Mrs.  Macglashin  could  get 
a  wink  of  sleep,  as  you  may  easily  imagine. 
They  sat  up  in  the  temple,  with  their  backs 
against  the  wall,  and  relays  of  black  fellows, 
armed  with  Sniders,  and  smeared  with  red  paint, 
watching  them  closely  all  the  while,  to  see  they 
didn't  escape,  or  try  to  do  away  with  themselves. 
But  Calvin  fell  asleep,  out  of  pure  fatigue,  on 
his  mother's  lap,  and  Miriam,  poor  little  soul, 
lay  against  her  father's  shoulder,  dozing  as 
peacefully  as  ever  she  dozed  in  her  own  small 
cot  at  the  mission  house,  where  she  was  born. 
Once  the  thought  came  into  her  father's  mind, 
oughtn't  he  to  twist  his  handkerchief  round  her 
soft  little  throat,  as  she  lay  there  all  unconscious 
in  his  circling  arms,  to  save  her  from  the  tender 
mercies  of  those  cruel  black  savages?  How 
could  he  tell  what  torments  they  might  inflict 
upon  her?  Wasn't  it  better  she  should  be 
spared  all  that  horror  of  fear?  Wasn't  it  bet- 
ter she  should  just  sleep  away  her  dear  little 
life  without  ever  kiiowing  it,  till  she  woke,  next 
morning,  in  a  happier  and  a  brighter  country? 
But  in  another  minute  his  heart  recoiled  from 


86  THE    CRUISE    OF   rilE   ALBATROSS. 

the  terrible  thought.  While  there  was  still  one 
chance  of  safety  he  must  let  things  take  their 
course.  Perhaps  even  those  black  monsters 
might  have  pity  at  the  last  on  that  one  ewe 
lamb.  Perhaps  they  might  spare  his  Miriam's 
life,  and  make  her  over  to  the  mission  ship,  when 
it  next  arrived  on  its  rounds  at  the  island. 

All  that  night  long  the  savages,  for  their  part, 
were  holding  a  sing-sing,  as  they  call  it,  close  by, 
and  the  hideous  noise  of  their  heathenish  revels 
could  be  distinctly  heard  by  the  watchers  in  the 
temple.  They  danced  to  the  music  of  their 
hollow  drums,  while  the  shells  upon  their  ankles 
resounded  in  unison.  At  times  the  echo  of  hor- 
rible laughter  fell  harsh  upon  the  ear.  The 
natives,  covered  with  red  feathers  and  smeared 
with  blood,  were  keeping  high  festival,  as  is  their 
horrid  custom.  And  as  the  long  hours  wore 
away,  the  din  of  their  revelry  became  more  wild 
in  their  orgies  each  moment. 

Morning  dawned  at  last,  —  the  morning  of 
Wednesday  the  tenth,  when  that  awful  deed  of 
bloodshed  was  to  be  done  before  the  open  eye 
of  heaven ;  and  with  the  first  streak  of  lio-ht  the 


ON   THE   ISLAND.  8/ 

poor  children  awoke  and  gazed  round  them 
blankly  at  their  temple  prison.  The  black 
watchers  brought  them  yam  and  mammee- 
apples  once  more,  but  they  couldn't  eat ;  they 
sat  bewildered  and  mute,  with  their  hands 
clas})ed  in  their  parents'  palms,  waiting  for  the 
end,  and  too  dazed  and  terrified,  almost,  to  know 
what  was  passing. 

About  six  o'clock  the  chief  came  down  to 
the  temple,  with  bloodshot  eyes  and  tottering 
feet,  attended  by  half  a  dozen  naked  black  fol- 
lowers. They  had  all  been  drinking,  the  greater 
part  of  the  night,  at  the  sing-sing,  for  the  F"rench- 
men  had  left  plenty  of  square  gin  behind ;  and 
they  rollicked  in  the  cruel  good-humor  of  the 
born  savage. 

"  How  do,  Macglashin }  "  the  chief  inquired 
with  a  hateful  leer.  "  How  do,  white  woman  ? 
Taranaka  day  come  at  last.  How  you  like  him 
this  morning?  What  for  you  no  tell  man  a 
Tanaki  sooner  you  don't  know  Englishman  t 
Ha !  ha !  dat  true ;  so  him  see.  Queenie  Eng- 
land no  care  for  Scotchman." 

"  If  you  dare  to  touch  a  hair  of  our  heads," 


8S  TJJK    CRUISE   OF    THE   ALBATROSS. 

Macglashin  cried  in  his  despair,  rising  up  and 
facing  the  savage,  angrily,  "  sooner  or  later,  I  tell 
you,  the  Queen  of  England  will  hear  of  it,  and 
she'll  send  a  gunboat  to  punish  you  for  our 
death,  and  her  sailors'll  shoot  you  all  down  for 
your  part  in  this  niurder." 

The  chief  laughed,  —  a  wild,  horrible,  bar- 
baric laugh.  "Ha!  ha!"  he  answered.  "Dat 
all  very  fine  for  try  frighten  me.  But  man  a 
oui-oui  tell  me  you  no  true  Englishman.  You 
speakee  English,  but  you  Scotchman  born.  All 
samee  American.  Oueenie  England  no  care  for 
American,  no  care  for  Scotch  ;  no  send  her  o:un- 
boat  for  look  after  Scotchman.  Man  a  Tanaki 
go  for  eat  you  to-day,  for  do  honor  to  ghost  a 
Taranaka." 

Macglashin  saw  that  words  would  produce  no 
effect  upon  the  tipsy  and  excited  wretch ;  he 
must  make  up  his  mind  for  the  worst.  There 
was  no  help  for  it. 

"At  least,"  he  cried,  "chief,  you'll  let  us 
say  good-by  to  our  boys  before  we  die  ?  You'll 
bring  them  in  for  their  mother  and  me  to  take 
our  last  farewell  of  them  1 " 


ON   THE   ISLAND.  89 

The  chief  shook  his  head  and  made  a  hideous 
grimace.  "  No  say  good-by  to  boys,"  he  said, 
with  liorrible  glee.  "  Man  a  Tanaki  kill  pig  all 
night ;  kill  Scotchman  in  morning.  Kill  baby 
first;  then  boy;  then  mother.  Last  of  all,  kill 
you  yourself,  Macglashin.  Taranaka  very  much 
love  white  man's  blood.  Great  day  to-day  for 
feast  for  Taranaka."  And  he  went  off  asj^ain, 
grinning  in  hideous  buffoonery,  while  Ahvc- 
glashin's  soul  seethed  in  speechless  indignation. 

For  half  an  hour  more  they  were  left  undis- 
turbed. Then  the  chief  appeared  at  the  door 
once  more,  and,  beckoning  with  his  long  black 
forefinger,   called  to   the  missionary: 

"  Come  out,  Macc^lashin  !  " 

The  unhappy  man  strode  out,  with  little 
Miriam,  half  fainting,  in  his  arms. 

"  Come  out,  white  woman !  "  the  savage  cried 
once  more. 

The  pale  mother,  almost  unable  to  totter  with 
terror,  made  her  way  to  the  door,  with  Calvin  s 
fingers  intertwined  in  her  own. 

"  Now,  white  people,  we  going  to  shoot  you," 
the  savaoe  continued,   unabashed.     "  You  make 


QO  Till'.    CRUISE    OF    THE   ALBATROSS. 

too  much  trouble  for  man  a  Tanaki.  Interfere 
too  much  with  man  who  sell  him  boy  or  him 
woman.  IVie  don't  going  to  kill  you  with  axe, 
like  Taranaka  kill  first  missionary  that  come  a 
Tanaki.  Man  a  otii-oui  sell  me  plenty  Snider. 
Man  a  Tanaki  want  to  try  him  shooting- 
irons.  Set  you  up  to  run,  and  then  go  fire  at 
you." 

At  the  word  he  nodded,  and  four  stalwart 
savages  caught  Macglashin  in  their  arms  and 
held  him  to  a  line  drawn  lightly  in  the  dust  by 
the  chief's  stick.  At  the  same  moment  four 
others  caught  his  unhappy  wife,  and  dragged 
her,  half  senseless,  to  the  selfsame  line.  The 
two  children  were  ranged  by  their  sides,  pale 
and  white  with  terror.  Then  the  chief  walked 
forward,  and  drew  another  line  some  forty  yards 
in  front  of  them  with  his  stick  aorain.  "When 
chief  call  'go,'"  he  called  out,  "man  a  Tanaki 
let  go  missionary,  and  boy,  and  white  woman. 
Missionary  run  till  him  reach  dis  line.  Man 
a  Tanaki  no  shoot  till  missionary  pass  dis  line. 
Den  man  a  Tanaki  fire ;  missionary  run ;  man 
a    Tanaki    run    after    missionary  to    kill    him. 


ON    THE    ISLAND.  9 1 

Whoever  shoot  missionary  or  white  woman  first, 
give  him  body  up  in  temple  to  Taraiiaka." 

As  he  spoke,  the  savages  ranged  themselves 
behind,  Sniders  in  hand.  The  ehief  jilaced 
himself  in  order  at  their  head,  on  the  riixht. 
Then  he  called  out  in  Kanaka,  "  When  I  crive 
the  word,  —  'one,  two,  three,' — loose  them! 
When  I  give  the  word,  '  Fire! '  off  with  your  rifles 
at  them." 

There  was  a  deadly  pause.  All  was  still  as 
death.  Then  the  chief  cried  aloud,  "One  — 
two  —  three  —  loose  them!"  and  the  savaees 
loosed  the  poor  terrified  Eluropeans. 

Even  in  that  supreme  moment  of  agony  and 
doubt,  however,  one  thought  kept  rising  ever  in 
the  father's  and  mother's  hearts.  What  had 
become  of  Jack  and  Martin.? 


CHAPTER   VII. 

ERRORS    EXCEPTED. 

It  was  Thursday  the  eleventh,  in  the  small 
hours  of  the  morning.  The  Albatross  was  lum- 
bering along  as  best  she  might  with  her  broken 
engine,  and  we  were  nearing  the  line  of  i8o°. 
We  w^eren't  making  much  way,  however,  for  the 
speed  was  low;  and  we  hadn't  so  much  reason 
for  hurrying  now,  for  we  felt  almost  hopeless  of 
being  in  time  to  prevent  the  threatened  massa- 
cre. Our  people,  we  feared,  had  long  since 
fallen  victims  to  the  superstition  and  blood- 
thirstiness  of  the  ungrateful  savages. 

I  was  asleep  in  my  berth  after  the  fatigues  of 
the  day,  and  was  dreaming  of  my  dear  little  girl 
in  England,  when  suddenly  I  felt  a  clammy  cold 
hand  laid  upon  my  own  outside  the  coverlet,  and, 
waking  with  a  start,  I  saw  Martin  Luther  stand- 
ing pale  and  white  in  his  blue  shirt  and  trousers 

93 


I^A'A'OA'S  EXCEPTED.  93 

before  me.     I  knew  at  once  by  his  face  some- 
thing fresh  had  turned  up. 

"  Goodness  gracious,  boy !  "  I  exclaimed, "  what 
on  earth's  the  matter  now.?" 

"  Captain  Braithwaite,"  he  answered,  with  very 
solemn  seriousness,  "  I've  been  counting  the  days 
over  and  over  again,  and  I'm  quite  sure  there's  a 
mistake  somewhere.  We've  got  a  day  wTong  in 
our  reckoning,  I'm  certain.  I've  counted  up 
each  day  and  night  a  hundred  times  over  since 
we  left  Tanaki  in  the  boat,  — Jack  and  I,  — and 
I  feel  confident  you're  twenty-four  hours  out  in 
your  reckoning.  Yesterday  wasn't  Wednesday 
the  tenth  at  all.  It  was  Tuesday  the  ninth, 
and  we  may  yet  reach  Tanaki  in  time  to  save 
them." 

"  No,  no,  my  boy,"  I  answered,  "  you're  wrong ; 
you're  wrong.  Your  natural  anxiety  about  your 
father's  fate  has  upset  your  calculations.  To- 
day's the  eleventh  ;  yesterday  was  the  tenth.  Till 
we  get  to  the  meridian  of  i8o°—  "  and  then,  with 
a  start,  I  broke  off,  suddenly. 

"What's  the  matter?"  Martin  cried,  for  he 
saw  at  once  I  was  faltering  and  hesitating.    "Ah, 


94  THE    CRUISE   OF   THE   ALBATROSS. 

you  see  I  was  right  now.     You  see  this  morn- 
ing's the  tenth,  don't  you  ?  " 

In  a  moment  the  truth  flashed  across  me  with 
a  burst.  I  saw  it  all ;  the  only  wonder  was  how 
on  earth  I  had  failed  so  long  to  perceive  it.  I 
seized  the  poor  lad's  hand  in  a  fervor  of  delight, 
relief,  and  exultation. 

"  Martin,"  I  cried,  overjoyed,  "  we  are  both  of 
us  right  in  our  own  way  of  reckoning.  This 
mornino-'s  the  eleventh  on  board  the  Albatross 
here,  but  it's  the  tenth,  I  don't  doubt,  in  your 
island  at  Tanaki !  " 

"What  do  you  mean?"  he  cried,  astonished, 
and  sazinir  at  me  as  if  he  thought  me  rather 
more  than  half  mad.  "  How  on  earth  can  it  be 
Thursday  here,  while  it's  Wednesday  at  Tanaki .?" 

"  Hold  on  a  bit,  youngster,"  said  I,  jumping 
out  of  my  cabin,  "  till  I've  consulted  the  chart 
and  made  quite  sure  about  it.  Let  me  see. 
Here  we  are.  Duke  of  Cumberland's  Islands, 
179°  west.  Hooray!  Hooray!"  I  waved  the 
chart  round  my  head  in  triumph.  "Jim,  Jim!" 
I  shouted  out,  rushing  up  the  companion-ladder 
in  my  nightshirt  as  I  stood;  "here's  a  hope  in- 


£:a'A'oa's  excepted.  95 

deed!  Here's  splendid  news.  Put  on  all  steam 
at  once  and  we  may  save  them  yet.  Tanaki's 
the  other  side  of  i8o!" 

Jim  looked  at  me  in  astonishment. 

"Why,  what  on  earth  do  you  mean,  Julian?" 
he  asked.  "  What  on  earth  has  that  to  do  with 
our  chance  of  saving  them  t  " 

"Jim,"  I  cried  once  more,  hardly  knowing  how 
to  contain  myself,  with  excitement  and  reaction ; 
"  was  there  ever  such  a  precious  pair  of  fools  in 
the  world  before  as  you  and  me,  my  good  fellow? 
It's  Wednesday  morning  in  Tanaki,  man  !  It's 
Wednesday  in  Tanaki !  Tanaki's  the  other  side 
of  i8o!" 

As  I  said  the  words,  Jim  jumped  at  me  like  a 
wild  creature  and  grasped  my  hand  hard.  Then 
he  caught  Martin  in  his  arms  and  hugged  him 
as  tight  as  if  he'd  been  his  own  father.  After 
that,  he  threw  his  cap  in  the  air  and  shouted 
aloud  with  delight.  And  when  he'd  quite  fin- 
ished all  those  remarkable  performances,  he 
looked  hard  into  my  face  and  burst  out  laughing. 

"Well,  upon  my  soul,  Julian,"  he  said,  "for 
a  couple  of  seasoned  old  Pacific  travellers,  I  do 


96  THE    CkUISE   OF  THE  ALBATROSS. 

agree  with  you  that  a  pair  of  bigger  fools  and 
stupider  dolts  than  you  and  I  never  sailed  the 
ocean ! " 

"  If  it  had  been  our  first  voyage  across,  now,"  I 
said  to  Jim,  feeling  thoroughly  ashamed  of  my- 
self for  my  silly  mistake,  "  there  might  have  been 
some  excuse  for  us  !  " 

"  Or  if  the  boy  hadn't  told  us  there  was  a 
discrepancy  in  the  accounts  the  very  first  day  he 
ever  came  aboard,"  he  added,  solemnly. 

"  But,  as  it  is,"  I  went  on,  "  such  a  scholar's 
mate,  such  a  beginner's  blunder  as  this  is  for 
two  seafaring  men  —  why,  it's  absolutely  inex- 
cusable !  " 

"  Absolutely  inexcusable  !  "  Jim  repeated,  peni- 
tently. 

"  But  if  we  clap  on  all  steam  we  may  get  there 
yet  on  Wednesday  morning,"  I  continued,  con- 
sulting my  watch. 

"  By  three  or  four  o'clock  on  Wednesday 
morning,"  Jim  echoed,  examining  the  chart  once 
more,  and  carefully  noting  the  ship's  position. 
"Why,  it's  Wednesday  now,  Julian.  We've 
crossed  i8o°." 


JiA'A'OA'S   EXCEPTED.  9; 

''  But  what  clay  was  yesterday?  "  Martin  asked, 
all  trembling. 

"  Why,  yesterday,"  I  answered,  "  was  Wednes- 
day the  tenth,  my  boy ;  but  to-day  is  Wednesday 
the  tenth  also.  It  comes  twice  over  at  this 
longitude.  We've  gained  a  day;  that's  the  long 
and  the  short  of  it.  We  ought  to  have  known 
it,  my  brother  and  I,  who  are  such  old  hands 
at  cruising  in  and  out  of  the  islands;  but  our 
anxiety  and  distress  made  us  clean  forget  it." 

"  How  does  that  come  about } "  Martin  asked, 
bewildered,  his  lips  white  as  death. 

"Just  like  this,"  said  I.  "Sailing  one  way, 
you  see,  from  England,  you  sail  with  the  sun; 
and  sailing  the  other  way,  you  sail  against  it. 
In  one  direction  you  keep  gaining  time,  and  in 
the  other  you  lose  it.  The  meridian  of  i8o" 
is  the  particular  place  where  the  two  modes  of 
reckoning  reach  their  climax.  So,  when  you 
get  to  180",  sailing  west,  you  lose  a  day,  and 
Saturday's  followed  right  off  by  Monday.  But 
sailing  east,  you  gain  a  day,  and  have  two  Sun- 
days running,  or  whatever  else  the  day  may  be 
when    you    happen    to   get    there.      Now,    we're 


98  7'lIE   CRUISE   OF   THE  ALBATROSS. 

going  in  the  right  direction  for  gaining  a  day ; 
and  so,  though  yesterday  was  Wednesday  the 
tenth  the  other  side  of  i8o",  to-day's  Wednesday 
the  tenth,  don't  you  see,  this  side  of  it?  And 
as  Tanaki's  this  side,  your  people  must  always 
have  reckoned  by  the  American  day,  so  to  speak, 
while  we've  reckoned  all  along  by  the  Australian 
one.  It's  this  morning  those  savages  threatened 
to  kill  your  father  and  mother,  and  if  we  make 
a  good  run,  we  shall  still  perhaps  be  in  time  to 
save  them." 

As  I  spoke,  the  boy's  knees  trembled  under 
him  with  excitement.  He  staggered  so  that  he 
caught  at  a  rope  for  support.  He  was  too  much 
in  earnest  to  cry,  but  the  tears  stood  still  in  his 
eyes  without  falling. 

"Oh!  I  hope  to  heaven  we'll  be  in  time!"  he 
answered.  "  We  may  save  them  !  We  may  save 
them ! " 

I  went  below  and  turned  in  once  more  for  a 
little  sleep,  for  I  knew  I  should  be  wanted  later 
in  the  morning;  and  having,  fortunately,  the  true 
sailor's  habit  in  that  matter  of  dozing  off  when- 
ever occasion  occurred,  I  was  soon  snoring  away 


EA'A'OA'S  EXCEPTED.  99 

again  most  comfortably  on  my  pillow.  At  half- 
past  three,  Tom  Blake  came  down  once  more  to 
wake  me. 

"  Land  in  sight,  sir,"  he  said,  "  on  our  star- 
board bow,  and  this  young  fellow  Martin  says 
he  makes  it  out  to  be  the  north  point  of 
Tanaki." 

In  a  minute  I  was  on  deck  again,  and  peering 
at  the  dim  land  through  the  gray  mist  of  morn- 
ing,—  the  sane  gray  mist  through  which,  as  we 
afterwards  leained,  the  poor  creatures  in  the 
heathen  temple  saw  the  dawn  break  of  the  day 
that  was  to  end  their  earthly  troubles.  It  was 
Tanaki,  no  doubt,  for  Martin  was  quite  sure  he 
could  recofifnize  the  headlands  and  the  barrier 
reef.  Our  only  question  now  was  how  next  to 
proceed.  We  held  a  brief  little  council  of  war 
on  deck,  with  Martin  as  our  chief  adviser  on  the 
local  situation. 

From  what  he  told  us,  I  came  rapidly  to  the 
conclusion  that  it  would  be  useless  to  attempt  an 
open  entrance  into  the  little  harbor  of  Makilolo, 
where  the  chief  had  his  hut,  and  where  the  mis- 
sion people,  as  we  believed,  were  still  confined 


lOO  THE    CRUISE    OF   TIfE   ALHATKOSS. 

in  the  temple.  To  do  so  would  only  be  to 
arouse  the  anger  of  the  savages  beforehand ;  and 
unless  we  could  get  them  well  between  a  cross 
fire,  and  so  effectually  prevent  any  further  out- 
rage, we  feared  they  might  massacre  the  unhappy 
people  in  their  hands  the  moment  we  hove  in 
sight  to  enter  the  harbor.  But  here  our  friend 
Martin's  local  knowledge  of  the  archii)elago 
helped  us  out  of  our  difficulty.  Me  could  pilot 
us,  he  said,  to  a  retired  bay  at  the  back  of  the 
island,  by  the  east  side,  where  we  could  land  a 
small  party  in  boats,  well  armed  with  Sniders 
and  our  Winchester  repeater;  and  Jack,  who 
had  slept  all  night,  and  was  therefore  the  fresher 
of  the  two,  would  show  us  a  path  through  the 
thick  tropical  underbrush,  by  which  we  could 
approach  the  village  from  the  rear,  while  the 
Albatross  ran  round  again  with  the  remainder 
of  the  crew,  and  brought  our  brass  thirty-pounder 
to  bear  upon  the  savages  from  the  open  harbor. 

This  plan  was  at  once  received  with  universal 
approbation,  and  we  proceeded  forthwith  to  put 
it  into  execution. 

Steering  cautiously   round   the  island,  under 


/lA'A'OA'S   KXCEPTED.  lOI 

cover  of  the  mist,  and,  fortunately,  unperceivcd 
by  the  assembled  natives,  who  were  too  much 
occupied  with  their  sing-sing  to  be  engaged  in 
scanning  the  offing,  we  reached  at  last  the  little 
retired  bay  of  which  Martin  had  spoken,  and 
got  ready  our  boat  to  land  our  military  party. 
It  was  ticklish  work,  for  we  could  afford  to 
land  only  ten,  all  told,  with  Jack  for  our  guide ; 
but  each  man  was  armed  with  a  good  riiie  and 
ammunition,  and  the  habit  of  discipline  made 
our  little  band,  we  believed,  more  than  a  match 
for  those  untutored  savages.  Nassaline,  also, 
joined  the  military  party,  while  seven  men  were 
left  as  a  naval  reserve.  Silently  and  cautiously 
we  landed  on  the  white  sandy  beach,  and  turned 
with  Jack  into  the  thick  tangled  brake  of  tropical 
brushwood. 

Meanwhile,  my  brother  Jim,  with  Martin  to 
guide  him,  undertook  to  take  the  Albatross 
round  to  the  regular  harbor;  for  Martin  fortu- 
nately knew  every  twist  and  turn  of  those  tor- 
tuous reef-channels,  having:  been  accustomed  to 
navigate  them  from  his  childhood  upwards,  both 
in  the    mission  boat  and  in   the  native  canoes 


I02  THE    CKUISE    Oh'   THE   AI.IiATROSS. 

which  frequently  put  to  sea  for  the  pcchc-cie-mer 
fishery. 

Our  plan  of  action,  as  arranged  beforehand, 
was  for  the  military  party  to  wait  about  in  the 
woods  at  the  back  of  the  village  till  the  Albatross 
hove  in  sight  off  the  mouth  of  the  harbor.  Then, 
the  moment  she  appeared,  she  was  to  fire  a 
blank  shot  towards  the  chief's  hut  with  her 
thirty-pounder;  and,  at  the  same  moment,  we  of 
the  surprise  party  were  to  fall  upon  the  savages, 
and,  before  they  could  recover  from  their  first 
surprise,  demand  the  instant  restitution  of  the 
missionary  and  his  family. 

Everything  depended  now  upon  the  two  boys. 
If  Jack  failed  to  show  us  the  path  aright  —  if 
Martin  drove  the  Albatross  upon  reef  or  rock  — 
all  would  be  up  with  us,  and  the  savages  would 
massacre  our  whole  party  in  cold  blood,  as  they 
proposed  to  do  with  Macglashin  and  his  little 
ones.  I  trembled  to  think  on  how  slender  a 
thread  those  four  precious  human  lives  depended. 
After  all,  they  were  but  lads,  mere  children,  al- 
most, and  the  rash  confidence  of  youth  might 
easily  deceive  them.      But  I  decided,  none  the 


EKKOKS  EXCEPTED.  1 03 

less,  to  trust  to  their  instincts  and  their  keen 
affection  for  their  friends  to  see  us  through  in 
our  need.  If  that  wouldn't  lead  us  right,  I  felt 
sure  in  my  own  soul  no  human  aid  could  possibly 
save  the  unhappy  prisoners. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

HOT    WORK. 

Jack  led  us  from  the  beach  over  the  white 
coral  sand  straight  up  to  the  wood,  and,  after 
looking  about  for  awhile  on  every  side  to  make 
sure  of  his  bearings  among  the  huge  fallen  logs, 
hit  at  last  upon  a  faint  trail  that  led  straggling 
through  the  forest,  —  a  trail  scarcely  worn  into 
the  semblance  of  a  path  by  the  bare  feet  of 
naked  savages.  .  Following  his  guidance,  we 
plunged  at  once,  with  some  doubtful  misgivings, 
into  the  deep  gloom  of  the  woodland,  and  found 
ourselves  immediately  in  a  genuine  equatorial 
thicket,  where  mouldering  trunks  of  palms  en- 
cumbered the  vague  path,  and  great  rope-like 
lianas  hung  down  in  loops  from  the  trees  over- 
head, to  block  our  way  at  every  second  step 
through  that  fatiguing  underbrush.  The  day 
was  warm,  even  as  we  travellers  who  know  the 

world    judge     warmth    in    the    tropical    South 

104 


HOT   WORK.  105 

Pacific ;  and  the  moist  heat  of  that  baskinsf, 
swampy  lowland,  all  laden  with  miasma  from 
the  decaying  leaves,  seemed  to  oppress  us  with 
its  deadly  effluvia  and  its  enervating  softness 
at  every  yard  we  went  through  the  jungle. 
Moreover,  we  had  to  carry  our  arms  and  ammu- 
nition among  that  tangled  brake ;  and  as  our 
rifles  kept  catching  continually  in  the  creepers 
that  drooped  in  festoons  from  the  branches, 
while  our  feet  got  simultaneously  entangled  in 
the  roots  and  trailino:  stems  that  strauofled  un- 
Jerfoot,  you  can  easily  imagine  for  yourself 
that  ours  was  indeed  no  pleasant  journey.  How- 
ever, we  persevered  with  dogged  English  perse- 
verance ;  the  sailors  tramped  on  and  wij^ed  their 
foreheads  with  their  sleeves  from  time  to  time  ; 
while  poor  Jack,  still  weak  from  his  long  and 
terrible  fast,  marched  bravely  at  our  head  with 
an  indomitable  pluck  which  reflected  the  highest 
credit  on  Mr.  Macglashin's  training. 

The  only  one  who  seemed  to   make  light  of 
the  toil  was  our  black  boy  Nassaline. 

We    went   single    file,    of    course,    along    the 
narrow  trail,  which  every  here  and  there  divided 


I06  THE    CRUISE   OF  THE  ALBATROSS. 

to  right  or  left  in  the  midst  of  the  brake  with 
most  puzzhng  complexity.  At  every  such  di- 
vision or  fork  in  the  track,  Jack  halted  for  a 
moment  and  cast  his  eye  dubiously  to  one  side 
and  the  other,  at  last  selecting  the  trail  that 
seemed  best  to  him.  Nassaline,  too,  helped  us 
not  a  little  by  his  savage  instincts  for  finding 
his  way  through  trackless  jungle.  For  my  own 
part,  I  could  never  have  believed  any  road  on 
earth  could  possibly  be  so  tortuous ;  and  at 
last,  at  the  end  of  the  twenty-fifth  turn  or  there- 
abouts, I  ventured  to  say  in  a  very  low  voice 
(for  we  were  stealing  along  in  dead  silence), 
"  Why,  Jack,  I  believe  you're  leading  us  round 
and  round  in  a  circle,  and  you'll  bring  us  out 
again,  in  the  end,  at  the  very  same  bay  where 
we  first  landed !  " 

"Hush!"  Jack  answered,  with  one  finger  on 
his  lip.  "  We're  drawing  near  the  outskirts  of 
the  village  now.  You  must  be  very  quiet.  I 
can  just  see  the  grass  roof  of  Taranaka's  temple 
peeping  above  the  brushwood  to  the  right.  In 
three  minutes  more  we  shall  be  out  in  the 
open." 


noT  WORK:.  to; 

And  sure  enough  he  told  the  truth.  Almost 
as  he  ceased  speaking,  the  noise  of  savage 
voices  fell  full  upon  my  ear  from  the  village  in 
front,  and  I  could  hear  the  natives,  w  their 
hideous  corroboree,  beating  hard  upon  their 
hollow  drums  of  stretched  skin,  and  shouting 
in  the  dance  to  their  drunken  comrades. 

It  was  a  ghastly  noise,  but  it  did  our  hearts 
good  just  then  to  hear  it. 

I  could  almost  have  clapped  my  hands  upon 
Jack's  back  and  given  him  three  cheers  for  his 
gallant  guidance  when  we  saw  the  village  plot 
opening  up  in  front  of  us,  and  the  naked  sav- 
ages, in  their  war-paint  and  feathers,  guarding 
the  door  of  Taranakas  temple.  But  the  neces- 
sity for  caution  compelled  me  to  preserve  a 
solemn  silence.  So  we  crouched  as  still  as 
mice  behind  a  clumpy  thicket  of  close-leaved 
tiro  bushes,  and  peeped  out  from  our  ambush 
through  the  dense  foliage,  to  keep  an  eye  upon 
the  scene  till  the  Albatross  hove  into  sisfht  in 
the  harbor. 

"  My  father  and  my  mother  must  still  be 
there,"  Jack    whispered    under   his    breath,   but 


I08  THE    CRUISE    OF   THE   ALBATROSS. 

in  a  deep  tone  of  relief.  "  The  Tanaki  men 
arp  guarding  them  exactly  as  they  did  when 
Martin  and  I  left  the  island.  I  almost  think  I 
can  see  Miriam's  head  through  the  open  door. 
We  shall  be  in  time  still  to  deliver  them  from 
these  bloodthirsty  wretches." 

"In  what  direction  must  we  look  for  the 
Albatross?''  I  whispered  back.  "Will  she 
come   in   from    the   south    there } " 

"  Oh,  no !  "  Jack  answered,  in  a  very  low  voice. 
"  That's  an  island  to  the  right,  —  a  little  rocky 
island  that  guards  the  harbor.  There's  deep 
water  close  in  by  the  shore  that  side.  Martin'U 
try  to  bring  her  in  the  northern  way,  so  that 
the  natives  mayn't  see  her  till  she's  close  upon 
the  village.  It's  a  difificult  channel  to  the  north, 
all  full  of  reefs  and  sunken  rocks;  but  I  think 
he  understands  it,  he's  swam  in  it  so  often. 
We  won't  see  her  at  all  till  she's  ricrht  in  the 
harbor  and  just  opposite  the  temple." 

We  were  dying  of  thirst  now,  and  longing  for 
a  drink,  but  could  get  nothing  to  quench  our 
drought.  "  What  I  would  give,"  I  muttered  to 
Tom  Blake,  "for  a  drink  of  water!" 


HOT   WORK.  109 

"  If  captain  want  water,"  Nassaline  answered, 
"me  soon  get  him  some."  And  he  made  a  gash 
with  his  knife  in  the  stem  of  a  sort  of  eourd 
that  climbed  over  the  bushes,  from  which  there 
slowly  oozed  and  trickled  out  a  sort  of  gummy 
juice  that  relieved  to  some  degree  our  oppres- 
sive sensations.  All  the  men  began  at  once 
cutting  and  chewing  it,  with  considerable  satis- 
faction. It  wasn't  as  good  as  a  glass  of  British 
beer,  I  will  freely  admit;  but  still,  it  was  better 
than  nothing,  anyway. 

By  this  time  it  was  nearly  half-past  six,  and 
we  watched  eagerly  to  see  what  action  the 
natives  would  take  as  soon  as  they  finished 
their  night-long  sing-sing.  Lying  flat  on  the 
ground,  with  our  rifles  ready  at  hand,  and  our 
heads  just  raised  to  look  out  among  the  foliage, 
we  kept  observing  their  movements  cautiously 
through  the  thick  brushwood. 

At  a  quarter  to  seven  we  saw  some  bustle 
and  commotion  setting  in  on  a  sudden  in  front 
of  the  temple ;  and,  presently,  a  tall,  sinister- 
looking  native,  who,  Jack  whispered  to  me,  was 
the  chief  of  Tanaki,  came  up  from  the  village, 


110  THE   CRUISE   OE   THE  ALBATROSS. 

where  the  sing-sing  had  taken  place,  and  stood 
by  the  door  of  the  thatched  grass-house.  We 
could  distinctly  hear  him  call  the  missionary  to 
come  out,  in  pigeon-English  ;  and  the  next  mo- 
ment, our  unfortunate  countryman  staggered 
forth,  with  his  little  daughter,  half  fainting,  in  his 
arms,  and  stood  out  in  the  bare  space  between 
the  tomb  of  Taranaka  and  the  spot  where  we 
were  lying. 

Oh !  how  I  longed  to  take  a  shot  at  that  mis- 
creant black  fellow! 

At  sight  of  his  father,  worn  with  fatigue  and 
pale  with  the  terror  of  that  agonizing  moment. 
Jack  almost  cried  aloud  in  his  mingled  joy  and 
apprehension;  but  I  clapped  my  hand  on  his 
mouth  and  kept  him  still  for  the  moment.  "  Not 
a  sound,  my  boy,  not  a  sound,"  I  whispered  low, 
"  till  the  time  comes  for  firing !  " 

"Shall  we  give  it  them  hot,  now?"  Tom  Blake 
inquired  low  at  my  ear  the  next  moment.  But 
I  waved  him  aside,  cautiously. 

"  Not  yet,"  I  answered,  "  unless  the  worst 
comes  to  the  worst,  and  we  see  our  people  in 
pressing    and    immediate    danger;    we'd    better 


nor   WORK.  1 1  1 

do  nothing  till  the  Albatross  heaves  In  sight. 
Her  gun  will  frighten  them.  To  fire  now  would 
be  to  expose  ourselves  and  our  friends  there  to 
unnecessary  danger." 

"  All  right,  sir,"  Tom  murmured  low,  in  reply. 
"  You  know  best,  of  course.  But  I  must  say, 
it'd  do  my  eart  good  to  up  an'  pepper  'em !  " 

"  Come  out,  white  woman ! "  we  heard  the 
chief  say  next,  with  insolent  familiarity;  and 
Mrs.  Macglashin  stepped  out,  a  deplorable  fig- 
ure, with  her  boy's  hand  twined  in  hers,  and 
her  white  lips  twitching  with  horror  for  her 
little  ones.  It  made  one's  blood  boil  so,  to  see 
it,  that  we  could  hardly  resist  the  temptation,  as 
we  looked,  to  fire  at  all  hazards,  and  let  them 
know  ofood  friends  were  even  now  close  at  hand 
to  help  and  deliver  them. 

"  Whether  the  Albatross  heaves  in  sight  or 
not,"  I  whispered  to  Tom  Blake,  "  we  must  fire 
at  them  soon,  —  within  five  minutes,  —  and  sell 
our  lives  as  dearly  as  we  can.  I  can't  stand 
this  much  longer.  It's  too  terrible  a  strain. 
Come  what  may,  I  must  give  the  word  and  at 
them ! " 


112  THE    CRUISE  OF   THE  ALBATROSS. 

"  Quite  right,  sir,"  says  Tom.  "  What's  the 
use  of  delaying? " 

And,  indeed,  I  began  to  be  tembly  afraid,  by 
this  time,  there  was  something  very  wrong  in- 
deed somewhere.  Could  Martin  have  missed 
his  way  among  those  difficult  shoals,  and  run 
our  trusty  vessel  helplessly  on  the  rocks  and 
reefs?  It  looked  very  like  it.  They  were  cer- 
tainly overdue ;  for  even  at  the  present  crippled 
rate  of  speed,  the  good  old  Albatross  had  had 
plenty  of  time,  I  judged,  to  round  the  point  and 
get  back  safe  again  into  the  deep  water  of  the 
harbor.  If  she  failed  in  this  our  hour  of  need, 
the  natives  would  surround  us,  and  cut  us  to 
pieces  in  a  mass,  for  our  best  reliance  was  in 
our  solid  brass  thirty-pounder.  I  began  to 
tremble  in  my  shoes  for  some  time  for  the  pos- 
sible upshot.  Over  and  over  again  I  glanced 
eagerly  towards  the  point  for  that  longed-for 
white  nose  of  hers  to  appear  round  the  corner. 

At  last,  unable  to  restrain  my  curiosity  any 
longer,  I  rose  to  my  feet  and  peered  across  the 
bushes.  As  I  did  so,  I  saw  the  savages  seize 
Macglashin    in  their  arms,  and  range   the  four 


HOT  WORK.  113 

poor  fugitives  in  a  line  together.  My  blood 
curdled.  The  chief  and  the  ten  savages  with 
the  Sniders  stood  in  a  row,  half  fronting  us 
where  we  lay.  Macglashin  and  his  wife  were 
fortunately  out  of  line  of  fire  for  our  rifles. 
"  Now,  we  can  delay  no  longer,"  I  cried.  "  He 
means  murder.  The  moment  the  black  fellow 
gives  the  word  of  command,  fire  at  once  upon 
him  and  his  men,  boys.  Take  steady  aim.  No 
matter  what  comes.  Let  the  poor  souls  have  a 
run  for  their  lives,  anyway." 

As  I  spoke,  the  chief  uttered  in  Kanaka  the 
native  words  for  "One,  two,  three,"  with  loud 
drunken  laughter. 

At  the  sound  of  the  chief's  voice,  the  savaees 
loosed  the  four  wretched  Europeans.  At  the 
very  same  sound  we  all  fired  simultaneously, — 
and  six  of  the  black  monsters  fell  writhing;  on 
the  ground,  while  the  chief  and  the  four  others, 
taken  completely  by  surprise,  dropped  their  rifles 
in  their  supreme  astonishment. 

"Forward,  boys,  and  secure  them!"  I  cried, 
dashing  out  into  the  open,  and  waving  my  hat 
to  the  astounded  missionary.     "  Here  we  are,  sir. 


114  THE    CRUISE   OF   THE   ALBATROSS, 

Run  this  way !  We're  friends.  '  We've  come  to 
your  rescue.  Catch  the  chief  at  once,  lads; 
and  —  hooray  for  the  Albatross  f' 

For,  just  as  I  spoke,  to  my  joy  and  relief,  her 
good  white  nose  showed  at  last  round  the  point ; 
and  next  instant,  the  boom  1  boom !  of  her  jolly 
brass  thirty-pounder,  fired  in  the  very  nick  of 
time,  completed  the  discomfiture  of  the  aston- 
ished savages. 

Before  they  knew  where  they  were,  they  found 
themselves  hemmed  in  between  a  raking  cross- 
fire from  our  Sniders  on  one  side,  and  the  heavy 
gun  of  the  Albatross  on  the  other.  The  tables 
were  now  completely  turned.  We  charged  at 
them,  running.  Macglashin,  seizing  the  situa- 
tion at  a  glance,  caught  up  one  of  the  rifles 
belonging  to  the  wounded  men,  which  had 
been  flung  upon  the  ground,  and,  hardly  yet 
realizing  his  miraculous  escape,  joined  our  little 
party  as  an  armed  recruit  with  surprising  alac- 
rity. For  the  next  ten  minutes  there  was  a 
terrible  scene  of  noise  and  confusion.  The 
blacks  advanced  upon  us,  swarming  up  from 
the  village  like  bees  or  wasps,  and  it  was  only 


HOT   WORK.  115 

by  a  hand-to-hand  fight  with  our  bayonets  — 
for  we  had  fortunately  brought  them  in  case  of 
close  quarters  — that  we  kept  our  dusky  enemy 
at  bay.  At  last,  however,  after  a  smart  hand- 
to-hand  contest,  we  secured  the  chief,  and  tied 
him  safely  with  the  rope  he  had  loosed  from 
Macglashin.  Then  we  seized  the  remaining 
Sniders  that  lay  upon  the  ground,  while  the 
men  of  the  village,  drunk  and  stupefied,  began 
to  fall  back  a  little  and  molest  us  from  a 
distance. 

"Now,  put  the  lady  and  children  in  the  cen- 
tre, boys,"  I  cried,  at  the  top  of  my  voice,  "  and 
let  the  chief  march  along  with  us  as  a  hostage. 
Down  to  the  shore,  while  the  Albatross  boat 
puts  out  to  save  us ! "  T  j<  ;n  I  turned  to  the 
savages,  and  called  out  in  English,  "  If  any  one 
of  you  dares  to  fire  at  us,  I  give  you  fair  warn- 
ing, we  shoot  your  chief!  Hold  off,  there,  all 
of  you ! " 

To  my  great  delight,  Nassaline,  standing  for- 
ward as  I  spoke,  translated  my  words  to  them 
into  their  own  tongue,  and,  waving  them  back 
with  his  hands,  made  a  litde  alley  for  us  through 


Il6  THE   CKUISE    OF   THE   ALliATKOSS. 

the  midst  to  regain  the  shore  by.     Smart  boy, 
Nassaline. 

After  a  moment,  however,  the  natives  once 
more  began  to  crowd  round  us,  as  we  started  to 
march,  in  very  threatening  attitudes,  with  their 
Sniders  and  hatchets.  At  one  time  I  ahiiost 
thought  they  would  overpower  us;  but,  just  then, 
Jim,  who  was  watching  the  proceedings  with 
his  glass,  from  the  deck  of  the  Albatross,  and 
saw  exactly  how  matters  stood,  created  a  judi- 
cious diversion  at  the  exact  right  moment  by 
firing  a  little  grape-shot  plump  into  the  heart 
of  the  grass  huts  of  the  village,  and  bowling 
over  a  roof  or  two  before  the  very  eyes  of  the 
astonished  savages.  They  fell  back  at  once, 
and  began  to  make  signs  of  desiring  a  parley. 
So  we  halted  on  the  spot,  with  the  lady  and 
children  still  carefully  guarded,  and  held  up 
our  handkerchiefs  in  sign  of  truce.  Then  Nas- 
saline, aided  by  our  sailor  who  understood  the 
Kanaka  language,  began  to  palaver  with  them. 
He  told  them  in  plain  and  simple  terms  we 
must  first  be  allowed  to  take  the  lady  and  chil- 
dren   in   safety    to    the  Albatross,  and   that  we 


HOT  WORK.  117 

would  afterwards  come  back  to  treat  at  greater 
length  with  their  head  men  as  to  the  chief's 
safety.  To  this,  after  some  demur,  the  black 
fellows  assented;  we  beckoned  to  Jim   ac- 

cordingly, by  a  preconcerted  sign,  to  send  the 
boat  ashore  to  us,  to  fetch  off  the  fuuitives. 
At  the  same  time  we  retreated  in  military  order, 
in  a  small  hollow  square,  to  the  beach,  still 
taking  good  care  to  protect  in  the  midst  our 
terrified  non-combatants. 

As  for  the  chief,  he  marched  before  us,  with 
his  hands  tied,  and  his  feet  free,  led  by  a  rope, 
the  ends  of  which  I  held  myself,  with  the  aid  of 
two  of  my  sailors.  A  more  ridiculously  crest- 
fallen or  disappointed  creature  than  that  drunken 
and  conquered  savage  at  that  particular  moment 
it  has  never  yet  been  my  fate  to  light  upon. 

We  reached  the  beach  in  safety,  and  sent 
Mrs.  Macglashin  and  the  children  aboard,  with 
Jack  to  accompany  them.  Then  we  turned  to 
parley  with  the  discomfited  savages.  Jim  kept 
the  thirty-pounder  well  pointed  in  their  direc- 
tion, with  ostentatious  precision,  and  we  made 
them  hold  off  along  the  beach  at  a  convenient 


Il8  THE    CRUISE    OF   THE   ALBATROSS. 

distance,  where  he  could  rake  them  in  se- 
curity, while  we  ourselves  retained  the  chief 
in  our  hands,  with  a  pistol  at  his  head,  as 
a  gentle  reminder  that  we  meant  to  stand  no 
nonsense. 

After  a  few  minutes'  parley,  conducted  chiefly 
by  our  Kanaka-speaking  sailor,  with  an  occa- 
sional explanation  put  in  by  our  assistant  inter- 
preter, Nassaline,  we  arrived  at  an  understanding, 
in  accordance  with  which  we  were  to  return 
them  their  chief  for  the  time  being,  on  consid- 
eration of  their  bringing  us  down  to  the  beach 
all  the  Macglashins'  goods,  and  making  restitu- 
tion for  the  sack  of  the  mission  house  in  dried 
cocoanut,  the  sole  wealth  of  the  island.  Those 
were  the  terms  for  the  immediate  present,  as 
a  mere  personal  matter;  for  the  rest,  we  gave 
the  chief  clearly  to  understand  that  we  in- 
tended to  sail  straight  away,  with  all  our  guests, 
for  Fiji,  there  to  lay  our  complaint  of  his  con- 
duct before  the  British  High  Commissioner  in 
the  South  Pacific.  We  would  then  charge  him 
with  murder  and  attempted  cannibalism,  and 
with   stirring    up   his   people    to    massacre    the 


HOT   WORK.  119 

other  missionary,  and  the  trader  WilHams.  We 
would  endeavor  to  get  a  gunboat  sent  to  the 
spot,  to  make  official  inquiry  into  the  nature 
of  the  disturbances,  and  to  demand  satisfaction 
on  the  part  of  the  relations  of  the  murdered 
men.  Finally,  we  would  also  lay  before  the 
Commissioner  the  conduct  of  the  French  labor- 
vessel,  and  her  kidnapping  skipper,  who  had 
instigated  the  savages  to  their  dastardly  attack, 
and  whom  I  was  strongly  inclined  to  identify 
with  the  captain  from  whose  grip  we  had 
rescued  our  friend  Nassaline.  We  gave  the 
chief  to  understand,  therefore,  that  he  must 
by  no  means  consider  himself  as  scot-free 
merely  because  we  let  him  go  unhurt  till  trial 
could  be  instituted  by  the  proper  authorities. 
He  must  answer  hereafter  for  his  high  crimes 
and  misdemeanors  to  the  Queen's  representa- 
tive. 

To  all  of  which  the  penitent  savage  merely 
answered,  with  a  sigh : 

"  Me  make  mistake.  Kiil  missionary  by  ac- 
cident. Man  a  oni-oui  tell  me  Queenie  England 
no  care  for  Scotchman,  an'  me  too  much  believe 


I20  TJIE    CKUISK   OF   THE   ALBATROSS. 

him.  Now  captain  tell  me  Queenie  send  gun- 
boat for  eat  me  up,  and  kill  all  my  people.  No 
listen  any  more  to  man  a  oiii-oui!^ 

And  then  we  put  off  in  triumph  to  the  Alba- 
tross. The  family  meeting  that  ensued  on 
board,  when  Macglashin  stood  once  more  upon 
a  British  deck  with  his  wife  and  children,  I 
won't  attempt  —  rough  sailor  as  I  am  —  to  de- 
scribe. I  don't  believe  even  the  special  corre- 
spondent of  a  morning  paper  could  do  full  jus- 
tice to  it.  To  see  those  two  lads,  too,  catch 
their  pretty  little  sister  once  more  in  their  arms, 
and  cover  her  with  kisses,  while  she  clung  to 
their  necks,  and  cried  and  laughed  alternately, 
was  a  sight  to  do  a  man's  heart  good  for  an- 
other twelvemonth.  And  as  we  sat  that  same 
evening  round  the  cabin-table  (where  our  Malay 
cook  had  performed  wonders  of  culinary  art  for 
the  occasion),  and  drank  healths  all  around  to 
everybody  concerned  in  this  remarkable  rescue, 
the  toast  that  was  received  with  the  profound- 
est  acclamations  from  every  soul  on  board,  was 
that  of  the  two  brave  boys  whose  courage  and 
skill  had  guided  us  at  last,  as  if  by  a  miracle. 


HOT    WORK.  121 

to    the    recovery   of    all    that   was    nearest    and 
dearest  to  them. 

Indeed,  if  Martin  and  Jack  don't  get  the 
Victoria  Cross  when  we  return  to  EnHand,  I 
shall  have  even  a  lower  opinion  than  ever  be- 
fore of  her  Majesty's  confidential  political  ad- 
visers of  all  creeds  or  parties. 


